Downtime

To learn something well, you need to study it for a while and then take a break.

— https://elemental.medium.com/why-your-brain-needs-idle-time-e5d90b0ef1df

  • experiment on rats:
    • when they were allowed to rest after completing an unfamiliar maze, their brains appear to automatically replay the experience of navigating the maze - they were able to solve it again quicker
    • when rats are immediately confronted with a new challenge after completing a maze, their brains don't have the chance to replay what they've learned
  • important for learning well - cramming in knowledge all the time without a break is generally not useful (after all understand requires effort, and effort requires rest)
Laboratory Residency

I've learned some important lessons as well. First of all, a month of residency sounds like a long time, and I was even planning smaller "downtime" projects, but I've obviously never got to them, I barely had time to finish the main project.