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U.S. science is in chaos

scientificamerican.com

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Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#751

Post by dilawar »

hgoel wrote: post #708
_the_inflator wrote: post #691

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Putting aside all the other things I could point out, my field is one where all the major players are roughly on par. Also, this isn't about making yet another DB SaaS, it's research. AI can only help make it possible to do more than what a lone person could do before. The problems are not the kind where AI can threaten jobs, and even for junior positions, it's well understood that sometimes things need to be done le…

My own experience during my PhD was that a few, if any, PI cared about your growth as a scientist. All they cared about was progress on their project which sometimes are the same. Most of the time they are not.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#752

Post by snailshare »

caseysoftware wrote: post #729
epistasis wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surviving on consulting income for a wide variety of clients right now in this space, and let me tell you it's brutal and extremely difficult to get entry to this space for people that don't have a wide network and lots of industry experience. Academic experience typically doesn't count. In addition there's a severe "passion tax" for these sorts of jobs, the salary difference for a "Data Scientist, Computational…

"Academic experience typically doesn't count." Why not?

Drug development is just a totally different game. The tools are the same but the difference between what the reviewers at your favorite high impact publication want and what the FDA wants are pretty different. People spend their whole careers getting good at the latter in the same way people get good at the former. I've seen people come from academia and thrive and I've also seen the struggle. Some people also go to school with the goal of doing drug development, which sometimes academic folks don't realize. - person who was good at microscope and ended up in early stage drug development ~10y

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#753

Post by mbreese »

caseysoftware wrote: post #729
epistasis wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surviving on consulting income for a wide variety of clients right now in this space, and let me tell you it's brutal and extremely difficult to get entry to this space for people that don't have a wide network and lots of industry experience. Academic experience typically doesn't count. In addition there's a severe "passion tax" for these sorts of jobs, the salary difference for a "Data Scientist, Computational…

"Academic experience typically doesn't count." Why not?

Biotech and academia have very different standards for data quality and reproducibility. Most of the biotech people I know view academic research as an interesting first draft at best.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#754

Post by johnsmith1840 »

epistasis wrote: post #746
johnsmith1840 wrote: post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

President of stanford was fired over fraudulent research if that's not rampant then what is?

What do you want more than the firing? If a CEO commits a crime does that mean the entire industry must ne shut down? What sort of reasoning is this?

Broken window theory to the extreme.

If the leader of one of the countries most famous research groups commited research fraud with a slap on the wrist it's not hard to realize how broken it is.

I have personally worked with famous researchers and seen a few fudge their work.

Acting ignorant of the major flaws implies you haven't been involved, or inside a bubble of research nirvana.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#755

Post by _DeadFred_ »

wredcoll wrote: post #416
_DeadFred_ wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Science is becoming partisan not just because of funding, but because too many people have stopped trying to persuade the people who need persuading. Instead we get statements like, "It has to do with the disdain that the people currently in power have to live in a shared reality with the rest of the population." If your starting talking point is that half the country is irrational or detached from reality you've alr…

> If your starting talking point is that half the country is irrational or detached from reality you've already abandoned the work of building consensus. We can keep doing the "Jon Stewart" thing and scoring points by calling the other side idiots, or we can grow up, act like adults, and do the much harder work of convincing people. THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE. The science is doing research and writing report…

You are 100% correct. The (horrible) abandoning of funding for these needed science projects is not science, but politics. My entire point. We need to try and bring these people back to reality not using science but persuasion/being politically intelligent in our speech with them, not dumb destructive (but feels good for a minute) Jon Stewart style belittling.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#756

Post by fuzzfactor »

KolibriFly wrote: post #143
embedding-shape wrote: post #4

> When the shutdown ended in mid-November, Reynolds’s team had just two weeks to get on budget. It failed. The plan the group submitted would cost too much and take too long. “Our last hope was that NASA headquarters would understand what had gone on and give us some leeway,” Reynolds says. NASA did not. After nearly 10 years of work, AXIS was dead. If the scientists haven't left science behind after an experience li…

And scientists are often exactly the kind of people who will try to keep going anyway

Some individual projects are not worth the money on their own, but maintaining the ability of as many researchers as possible to continue to be at the top of their game, having ever-improving research chops in general is worth more than money can buy.

It's still an extremely short-sighted and imbecillic action not to be increasing research opportunities at least as fast as other places like China in particular.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#757

Post by snailshare »

epistasis wrote: post #414
drak0n1c wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many biotech startups and private research labs thriving and paying high salaries with excellent benefits for that specialty right now - focused on genetic testing, editing, and longevity. Before moving abroad, widening the search outside of academia and considering moving internally might be worthwhile.

I'm surviving on consulting income for a wide variety of clients right now in this space, and let me tell you it's brutal and extremely difficult to get entry to this space for people that don't have a wide network and lots of industry experience. Academic experience typically doesn't count. In addition there's a severe "passion tax" for these sorts of jobs, the salary difference for a "Data Scientist, Computational…

There is some history to why it is as grim as it is right now (sunny skies will return, don't worry!). A lot of funding was around ~2019 from the VC people, and biomed PIs were getting their startups funded and hiring from the recent PhD cohorts. The horrible environment in STEM academic hiring needs no introduction, so the talent pool was rich. Early stage drug development and biotech is horrendously risky, so most don't make it past ~5-7 years. Now there are lots of people looking for a job, and the only surviving companies are the extremely hiring averse ones.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#758

Post by jandrewrogers »

rbtprograms wrote: post #509
ArmadilloGang wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family is looking at Missouri to Spain. Why Spain: Expat communities, cost of living, friendly visa options, beautiful climate. Why leave: Sick of U.S. politics and the way it directly and indirectly affects us and how difficult it is to escape from it - it’s a major point of conversations with family and friends, it’s on the local radio, local subreddit, local social media pages, etc. Also, I have over $7k in per…

americans pretending they aren't immigrants by using the term expat always cracks me up

The terms "expat" and "immigrant" are not synonyms. There is a material semantic distinction in American English.

Most Americans that live overseas tend to be expats rather than immigrants. Those two terms don't convey the same meaning.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#759

Post by dwa3592 »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #611
dwa3592 wrote: post #307

My wife operates an optical trap (a sophisticated microscope, she uses it for studying gene/dna physical properties) and she's pretty good at working with that instrument. The number of people good at working that microscope are in the ballpark of 2000 (+- 1000) in the world! She has cried a lot in the last one year for the mess science research has become. We are moving out of the country at the end of August.

> We are moving out of the country at the end of August. Is the assertion there are no places for her to enjoy doing what she's great at, without leaving the country, in private industry? Genuinely curious.

Fair question - our concerns are multidimensional. Funding cut + Visa uncertainty + ICE arresting us and putting us in detention + us visiting another country but not being allowed to enter back are a few of them.

Re: U.S. science is in chaos

#760

Post by [deleted] »

ArmadilloGang wrote: post #337
lmf4lol wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where to?

My family is looking at Missouri to Spain. Why Spain: Expat communities, cost of living, friendly visa options, beautiful climate. Why leave: Sick of U.S. politics and the way it directly and indirectly affects us and how difficult it is to escape from it - it’s a major point of conversations with family and friends, it’s on the local radio, local subreddit, local social media pages, etc. Also, I have over $7k in per…

[deleted]
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