Sacrificing animals in your research?

  • As many already know, studying for the physics GRE and getting accepted into a graduate program is not the final hurdle in your physics career.
  • There are many issues current physics graduate students face such as studying for their qualifier, deciding upon a field of research, choosing an advisor, being an effective teaching assistant, trying to have a social life, navigating department politics, dealing with stress, utilizing financial aid, etc.

Post Reply
SSM
Posts: 87
Joined: Mon Nov 01, 2010 10:57 pm

Sacrificing animals in your research?

Post by SSM » Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:12 pm

I'm meeting new professors and groups this semester to try to work with one during the next semester. One of the groups does fiber-laser stuff with a biology application. I talked to the professor today about it, and he glibly said that after testing these lasers on live, sedated animals (the lasers are designed to help with problems like hypertension by cutting some nerve, i.e. not meant to kill anything), we apparently have to sacrifice the animals. In our case, the animals are pigs and sheep. Has anyone ever had to do this sort of work in a biolab or anything before--or has anyone worked in a slaughterhouse? Is there a way to make your soul feel good about possibly doing that?

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Sacrificing animals in your research?

Post by bfollinprm » Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:41 pm

I think it's one of those things you either have a problem with or you don't have a problem with it (I eat pig nearly every day, so I have no problem).

MiguelMattox
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:08 am

Re: Sacrificing animals in your research?

Post by MiguelMattox » Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:15 am

Life-saving medical research is being carried out right now in laboratories all over the world. Life-saving for humans, that is. The uncomfortable fact of the matter is that much of this work is done on non-human species, who live out their lives in pain, illness and captivity.

User avatar
drunkphysics
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2014 11:01 am

Re: Sacrificing animals in your research?

Post by drunkphysics » Mon Apr 07, 2014 11:27 am

SSM wrote: Is there a way to make your soul feel good about possibly doing that?
well, I mean, there's always bacon-covered gyros. That always makes me feel better. And look at it this way: people raise animals solely for the purpose of killing them and eating them. At least these ones are serving a scientific purpose in addition to this process.

way to go, now I'm all hungry and stuff.

bfollinprm
Posts: 1203
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Sacrificing animals in your research?

Post by bfollinprm » Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:01 pm

You could try to find out what happens to the meat after the experiment is finished--is there a butcher that buys it to resell for consumption? Here at Davis, we have a meat lab, which recycles the meat from animals used in science (as well as trains students in food processing). Knowing that would make me feel better, since it implies no net increase in animal slaughter.

As a corollary, if your school has something similar or partners with a local butcher in a similar capacity, definitely hit that place up if you eat meat (or cheese, or eggs). Local, small-batch meat processing is infinitely better than the industrial-scale slaughterhouses that provide the meats in your local supermarket, both in animal cruelty as well as in taste.



Post Reply