‘Now, more than ever, we need science’, thinks the editor of this blogpost as he works from his small studio paid by a rent-burdened academic salary while under lockdown in California due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the need for an open, fair, inclusive science seems to be ignored all across the world by policy makers and university administrations, who refuse to pay graduate st ...[Read More]
Agata struggles with the many and diverse opinions thrown at her whilst endeavoring to finish a paper: What is the perfect number of co-authors for a paper? Dear Agata, As few as possible. Limit yourself to the people you really cannot avoid. Such as those collaborators that have actually provided a significant contribution to the body of work presented in a manuscript. For every researcher this d ...[Read More]
Tuckered from simply contemplating the infinite myriad of possibilities arising behind the dandy phantasmagoria at the pristine horizon which is a doctorate, Maite considers: Should I start a postdoc directly after my PhD? Dear Maite, I would. If you want to stay in science, that is. Consider yourself a prospector initiating the exploration of an unsullied landscape. A wonderful scenery of excitin ...[Read More]
A scientific career can be a struggle. This week Dave Stegman, Associate Professor at Scripps, draws parallels between being a scientist and being an Antarctic explorer. He dangled in the crevasse, unable to touch the sides; the abyss beneath was hundreds of feet deep; the rope he was suspended from was 14 feet long, connected above to the sledge he had been hauling. Was it luck when his sledge ha ...[Read More]
