Can I ask questions about the practice of biology?

Question

Naturally, we expect on a site like this that biology itself is discussed. But what about related things that concern biologists?

What I do know is that:

• Equipment recommendations are off-topic, a good thing, I think.
• The history of biology is on-topic, also a good thing.
• Questions about teaching biology can be on-topic, also a good thing.
• Questions tagged protocol, image-processing, protocol, and research-process all exist.

I think it would also be good if we could ask about specific things that would concern biologists of various kinds. For example, I have a specific question regarding insect preservation that would concern entomologists. I imagine other questions like lab procedures, cataloging formalities, and specimen acquisition would be very useful questions and attract practicing experts.

Are these questions allowed?

Answer 1

Questions about the practice of biology are absolutely on-topic. In fact, there's a tag lab-techniques dedicated to it, and possibly others for other non-lab biological practitioners as well. This site is of, by, and for biologists, and many good questions relate to the day-to-day of our work:

• How long can I store extracted RNA?
• How can I label cryotubes in a way that eliminates the problem of legible hand-writing?
• Does the Petri dish lid orientation on workbench affect aseptic technique?
• What is the best way to express two proteins in a mammalian cell?
• Basic step by step methods for PCR & Gel electrophoresis class

and many, many more. There are also a plethora of questions regarding how to do theoretical genetics, online database searching and analysis, phylogenetic classification, sample collection in "the real world" (i.e., outside the lab), and others. If it directly relates to a branch of biology, go for it!