Level 31! Finally made it into the Hell levels. Still haven’t missed doing reviews for 188 days in a row. Yay me!
Though I’ve noticeably slowed down, having left Japan and working full time again (at least until whenever university starts again), but I guess that is to be expected. Bigger problem is that I haven’t done much other studying except a little but of bunpro and ghibli movies (with them being on Netflix and all).
There is a fix for the leaderboard problem here, if you don’t mind editing it yourself.
(and @Karakayn) I’ve just started a master’s of computer science! My previous degrees (a bachelor’s in Japanese and a law degree) have nothing to do with computer science, though, so I need to get through some foundation classes before the meat of the program really starts.
Your research on fungi sounds VERY interesting. I don’t know much about the kingdom, but I understand they are really strange organisms. I hope the lockdown doesn’t set you back a lot!
If your research involves a trade secret, I don’t suppose it would be possible to just take some of the stock home and keep it alive there (assuming the fungus could survive in an environment you could reproduce at home)… good luck 
At first I was going to say “They’re WHAT?” but now I see from your profile that you’re currently living in Japan. I think where I am, you can only get them through Disney+ because Disney owns the distribution rights in America.
You need that theory to finish your thesis. Better to start now because it helps with the writing. It is damn tedious but start now and it’s good to write it down immediately in your draft version.
They are actually on Netflix everywhere except Japan and USA. Sadly I’m back in Germany since a few weeks.
Level 9.
I’m happy but I won’t be able to go as fast for 10 now that I have a ton of lessons piled up 
Level 4 soon level 5, looks like the road ahead of me will be long and hard, but I’ll smash this.
Courage !
By trade secret I just mean I prefer not to tell people the exact species I’m working on. 
Nah, I wouldn’t be allowed to bring it home and don’t even have the facilities to do so here anyway. Besides that, it needs regular subculturing on media to keep it alive, and an autoclave to sterilise that and an incubator to grow it in, so it’s just completely unfeasible to do so. But not to worry, I made plenty of frozen stocks to work from (though I never imagined I’d need them so soon and I’d be absolutely fucked now if I hadn’t. I just have to try and remember which part of the freezer I left them in and hope nobody has moved them. 
How did you decide to get into computer science after two degrees like that? And is computer science like building computers as well as knowing the hardware of them, or what’s involved? That sounds exciting 
That they are. There’s such an incredible amount of diversity in them it really is mind boggling. There’s 9 major phyla-level clades in the kingdom, and most of them are very different to each other. Higher fungi are the most complex cellular microbes, being eukaryotic, which is part of the reason why we have less antifungals than antibacterials - they’re often similar enough that they have toxic effects to humans as well. I came across an interesting article on what makes fungi so impervious to radiation, and it blew my mind that it all boils down to their almost superhuman ability to repair DNA at a scale and in a way we just can’t.
Works like a charm 
Thank you !
Note to myself : Make a big answer after to all D:
Level 6.
Goal is to hit 40 by December, but maybe I’ll go for even greater!
Good luck! I hope you’re able to get back into your lab in earnest soon, and before your stocks get all moved around. That species sounds very picky, but then again it’s always hard to support something outside of its natural habitat.
I had no idea–that makes a lot of sense. I also had no idea that they can repair DNA at all. I hope we can learn how they do that and somehow adapt it to our own uses. (By the way, any time you want to drop a fun fungi fact into the thread, please feel free!)
That is a really excellent question. I don’t have a succinct answer that’s also good. I grayed out all the stuff that’s probably TL;DR for your convenience. Unfortunately, I ended up really hating the practice of law, which is why I’m not still doing it. I decided to go into computer science because I think I’ll like it (I like and am very good at enormous, tedious projects that have high levels of detail and complicated parts), it’s something I’m able to do now (my strong interest is in public health, but what with my toddler and my spouse being an emergency physician without any semblance of a set of sane schedule, traditional full-time academic programs are just not possible unless we do daycare at ruinous expense. This computer science program is at a very good local university, but can be completed entirely online, so there’s a ton more flexibility), the field is applicable to other fields I’m interested in, and the career options are diverse and flexible.
My program won’t require building a computer, but I plan to do that soon because I need a new one, and I think it would be a great learning experience.
Unless there’s some exception that I’m not aware of (and there usually always is) all living organisms can repair their DNA. But the differences in how bacteria and fungi do that in comparison to humans, and the rate at which they do it is what accounts for their superior survivability. Prospecting for some way to acquire radiation resistance from them is intriguing, but I don’t think we’ll see any significant breakthrough any time soon; given the differences between us. But now I’m way out of my field so I’ll shut up
That’s interesting! I like it when people don’t give up on the idea of learning something different or choosing a different education path. I can see myself possibly doing the same in a good few years just out of sheer interest and the thirst for something new.
I hope to build a computer myself too, but my available discretionary expenditure is so low it might not happen for a while But if you have any questions you think I could answer give me a shout. I’d recommend build guides from a few youtube channels (linus tech tips, paul’s hardware) - I’ve learned a lot just from watching them tinker with computers.
Also @JoJoJapan that is incredible, good going!
Thanks @Ilyasaur
Level 25 in 9 days 10 hours! Ever onwards and upwards towards the big 60!! Let’s keep going everyone!
I am certain this is some Umbrella corporation level shit based on your description and soon they will take over the world.
Why did you do this to us? Whyyy? Leoooon! Claaaaire!
Level 10!!! Okay, so level 9 was pretty tough going and I deliberately went a bit slower to give myself time to keep up with my reviews. They are coming at my almost constantly now, but I’m going to keep at it as I’m learning so much.
I’m afraid I don’t understand the reference 
They won’t take over, they’ll just be here long after we’re gone.
This was a videogame reference to the Resident Evil videogame series.
Anyway I am now level 8 and once again I have lots of lessons to do. I should probably spend more time learning japanese instead of just reading manga in japanese.
