Janaki Ammal,C. D. Darlington and J. B. S. Haldane: scientific encounters at the end of empire

Right from the beginning, genetics has been an international venture, with international networks involving the collaboration of scientists across continents. Janaki Ammal’s career illustrates this. This paper traces her scientific path by situating it in the context of her relationships with J. B. S. Haldane and C. D. Darlington.     

Scientists want more children

Scholars partly attribute the low number of women in academic science to the impact of the science career on family life. Yet, the picture of how men and women in science--at different points in the career trajectory--compare in their perceptions of this impact is incomplete. In particular, we know little about the perceptions and experiences of junior and senior scientists at top universities, institutions that have a disproportionate influence on science, science policy, and the next generation of scientists. Here we show that having fewer children than wished as a result of the science career affects the life satisfaction of science faculty and indirectly affects career satisfaction, and that young scientists (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) who have had fewer children than wished are more likely to plan to exit science entirely. We also show that the impact of science on family life is not just a woman's problem; the effect on life satisfaction of having fewer children than desired is more pronounced for male than female faculty, with life satisfaction strongly related to career satisfaction. And, in contrast to other research, gender differences among graduate students and postdoctoral fellows disappear. Family factors impede talented young scientists of both sexes from persisting to research positions in academic science. In an era when the global competitiveness of US science is at risk, it is concerning that a significant proportion of men and women trained in the select few spots available at top US research universities are considering leaving science and that such desires to leave are related to the impact of the science career on family life. Results from our study may inform university family leave policies for science departments as well as mentoring programs in the sciences.     

An integrated biochemistry and genetics outreach program designed for elementary school students

Exposure to genetic and biochemical experiments typically occurs late in one's academic career. By the time students have the opportunity to select specialized courses in these areas, many have already developed negative attitudes toward the sciences. Given little or no direct experience with the fields of genetics and biochemistry, it is likely that many young people rule these out as potential areas of study or career path. To address this problem, we developed a 7-week (~1 hr/week) hands-on course to introduce fifth grade students to basic concepts in genetics and biochemistry. These young students performed a series of investigations (ranging from examining phenotypic variation, in vitro enzymatic assays, and yeast genetic experiments) to explore scientific reasoning through direct experimentation. Despite the challenging material, the vast majority of students successfully completed each experiment, and most students reported that the experience increased their interest in science. Additionally, the experiments within the 7-week program are easily performed by instructors with basic skills in biological sciences. As such, this program can be implemented by others motivated to achieve a broader impact by increasing the accessibility of their university and communicating to a young audience a positive impression of the sciences and the potential for science as a career.     

Leaks in the pipeline: separating demographic inertia from ongoing gender differences in academia

Identification of the causes underlying the under-representation of women and minorities in academia is a source of ongoing concern and controversy. This is a critical issue in ensuring the openness and diversity of academia; yet differences in personal experiences and interpretations have mired it in controversy. We construct a simple model of the academic career that can be used to identify general trends, and separate the demographic effects of historical differences from ongoing biological or cultural gender differences. We apply the model to data on academics collected by the National Science Foundation (USA) over the past three decades, across all of science and engineering, and within six disciplines (agricultural and biological sciences, engineering, mathematics and computer sciences, physical sciences, psychology, and social sciences). We show that the hiring and retention of women in academia have been affected by both demographic inertia and gender differences, but that the relative influence of gender differences appears to be dwindling for most disciplines and career transitions. Our model enables us to identify the two key non-structural bottlenecks restricting female participation in academia: choice of undergraduate major and application to faculty positions. These transitions are those in greatest need of detailed study and policy development.     

Inbreeding,eugenics, and Helen Dean King (1869–1955)

Helen Dean King’s scientific work focused on inbreeding using experimental data collected from standardized laboratory rats to elucidate problems in human heredity. The meticulous care with which she carried on her inbreeding experiments assured that her results were dependable and her theoretical explanations credible. By using her nearly homozygous rats as desired commodities, she also was granted access to venues and people otherwise unavailable to her as a woman. King’s scientific career was made possible through her life experiences. She earned a doctorate from Bryn Mawr College under Thomas Hunt Morgan and spent a productive career at the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology in Philadelphia where she had access to the experimental subjects which made her career possible. In this paper I examine King’s work on inbreeding, her participation in the debates over eugenics, her position at the Wistar Institute, her status as a woman working with mostly male scientists, and her involvement with popular science.     

Robert Chambers and Thomas Henry Huxley, Science Correspondents: The Popularization and Dissemination of Nineteenth Century Natural Science

Robert Chambers and Thomas Henry Huxley helped popularize science by writing for general interest publications when science was becoming increasingly professionalized. A non-professional, Chambers used his family-owned Chambers' Edinburgh Journal to report on scientific discoveries, giving his audience access to ideas that were only available to scientists who regularly attended professional meetings or read published transactions of such forums. He had no formal training in the sciences and little interest in advancing the professional status of scientists; his course of action was determined by his disability and interest in scientific phenomena. His skillful reporting enabled readers to learn how the ideas that flowed from scientific innovation affected their lives, and his series of article in the Journal presenting his rudimentary ideas on evolution, served as a prelude to his important popular work, Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Huxley, an example of the new professional class of scientists, defended science and evolution from attacks by religious spokesmen and other opponents of evolution, informing the British public about science through his lectures and articles in such publications as Nineteenth Century. He understood that by popularizing scientific information, he could effectively challenge the old Tory establishment -- with its orthodox religious and political views -- and promote the ideas of the new class of professional scientists. In attempting to transform British society, he frequently came in conflict with theologians and others on issues in which science and religion seemed to contradict each other but refused to discuss matters of science with non-professionals like Chambers, whose popular writing struck a more resonant chord with working class readers. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Life More Ordinary: The Dull Life but Interesting Times of Joseph Dalton Hooker

The life of Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) provides an invaluable lens through which to view mid-Victorian science. A biographical approach makes it clear that some well-established narratives about this period need revising. For example, Hooker’s career cannot be considered an example of the professionalisation of the sciences, given the doubtful respectability of being paid to do science and his reliance on unpaid collectors with pretensions to equal scientific and/or social status. Nor was Hooker’s response to Darwin’s theories either straightforward or contradictory; it only makes sense as carefully crafted equivocation when seen in the context of his life and career. However, the importance of Hooker’s life is ultimately its typicality; what was true of Hooker was true of many other Victorian men of science.     

Career choices in the biosciences: what companies are looking for when they are filling a position

Holding a Ph.D. or other doctoral degree in the biological sciences used to allow for only one main career path. Faculty positions at either research-intensive universities or at predominantly teaching institutions defined the career path very well. The situation is considerably more complex now. Many individuals decide to pursue careers in for-profit organizations, either by personal preference, geographic needs, or simply as an expedient way to continue in biology in a meaningful way. This article arises from the need to define a better understanding of the nature of corporate job seeking for potential job applicants. The author draws upon his experience over a thirty-year scientific career in industry and academics. The distinctions he makes are helpful for job-seekers in this new environment.     

Observation and visualization: reflections on the relationship between science, visual arts, and the evolution of the scientific image

The connections between biological sciences, art and printed images are of great interest to the author. She reflects on the historical relevance of visual representations for science. She argues that the connection between art and science seems to have diminished during the twentieth century. However, this connection is currently growing stronger again through digital media and new imaging methods. Scientific illustrations have fuelled art, while visual modeling tools have assisted scientific research. As a print media artist, she explores the relationship between art and science in her studio practice and will present this historical connection with examples related to evolution, microbiology and her own work. Art and science share a common source, which leads to scrutiny and enquiry. Science sets out to reveal and explain our reality, whereas art comments and makes connections that don’t need to be tested by rigorous protocols. Art and science should each be evaluated on their own merit. Allowing room for both in the quest to understand our world will lead to an enriched experience.     

Science stories: flies, planes, worms, and lasers

"Tell a story," my mother instructs her graduate students as they prepare their talks. I will make use of her advice here, and will tell several short stories. The themes revolve around the practice of science-what motivates us to go into science and how we choose questions once we get there. I also touch on progress in scientific tools, teaching, good mentors, and good colleagues, all of which contribute to making a career in science constantly compelling.     

John W. Burgess,the racial state and the making of the American science of politics

This article examines the place of racial ideas in the constitution of political science as an academic discipline in the USA. For the Gilded Age generation that built the first PhD-granting departments in political science in the country, ‘race’ was the source of sovereignty, the basis of democratic legitimacy and a tool for delineating democracy's borders. It was also an important element of that cohort's aspiration to a ‘science’ of politics, distinct from what they viewed as the ‘abstract and formal’ theorizing of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Moreover, while the brand of racialism that characterized this founding moment came to seem outmoded within a few decades, in the 1920s political scientists seeking once again to claim an empirical, scientific basis for their discipline – and for American democracy – turned to new accounts and sciences of race.     

Scientific motherhood,responsibility, and hope: umbilical cord blood banking in South Korea

This paper explores how concepts of hope, motherhood, responsibility, and science are mobilized and transformed in the marketing strategies of private cord blood banks in South Korea. Cord blood banking provides a useful case study of the “political economy of hope,” which emphasizes future expectations over current utility. In particular, appeals to hope are rendered natural as being applied in relation to various concepts of motherhood (e.g. “scientific motherhood” and “consumer motherhood”), thereby refiguring ideas of a mother's responsibility to her child. In South Korea, cord blood banks rely heavily on the discourse of “scientific motherhood,” which is based on certain gender norms and ideas about science, modernity, and “advanced society.” By exploring the discourse of scientific motherhood, this study reexamines the “political economy of hope” through the lenses of gender and transnationalism.     

Challenges and advice for MD/PhD applicants who are underrepresented in medicine

The importance of diversity is self-evident in medicine and medical research. Not only does diversity result in more impactful scientific work, but diverse teams of researchers and clinicians are necessary to address health disparities and improve the health of underserved communities. MD/PhD programs serve an important role in training physician-scientists, so it is critical to ensure that MD/PhD students represent diverse backgrounds and experiences. Groups who are underrepresented in medicine and the biomedical sciences include individuals from certain racial and ethnic backgrounds, individuals with disabilities, individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, and women. However, underrepresented students are routinely discouraged from applying to MD/PhD programs due to a range of factors. These factors include the significant cost of applying, which can be prohibitive for many students, the paucity of diverse mentors who share common experiences, as well as applicants’ perceptions that there is inadequate support and inclusion from within MD/PhD programs. By providing advice to students who are underrepresented in medicine and describing steps programs can take to recruit and support minority applicants, we hope to encourage more students to consider the MD/PhD career path that will yield a more productive and equitable scientific and medical community.     

Balancing science and family: tidbits of wisdom from those who've tried it and succeeded

There is a notion that combining parenthood with a career in academic science is problematic, yet academic science careers can provide an outstanding career choice for professional parents because they offer extraordinary flexibility and stability. Much has been written about the paucity of women in tenure track scientific positions and the general disparity between men and women in all professions. However, the status quo is changing as more women fill the ranks of academia and male professors share childcare and household duties with spouses who hold professional positions. Although combining any career with parenthood can be challenging, parenthood should not be considered an obstacle to a successful scientific career.     

Let's Make Gender Diversity in Data Science a Priority Right from the Start

The emergent field of data science is a critical driver for innovation in all sectors, a focus of tremendous workforce development, and an area of increasing importance within science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In all of its aspects, data science has the potential to narrow the gender gap and set a new bar for inclusion. To evolve data science in a way that promotes gender diversity, we must address two challenges: (1) how to increase the number of women acquiring skills and working in data science and (2) how to evolve organizations and professional cultures to better retain and advance women in data science. Everyone can contribute.Every March we celebrate both International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. These annual celebrations remind us that through our current individual and collective behavior, all stakeholders can influence how gender-diverse our future history is likely to be. This is especially important in data science, an emerging science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) field that is a critical driver for 21st century innovation.Data science focuses on the extraction of knowledge from data. It is a STEM discipline, but requires skills not yet widely taught in STEM disciplines: Skills in managing large datasets, novel analysis and inference approaches, rigorous statistical analysis, new ways to convey outcomes, and more. A recent McKinsey Report [1] indicates that the United States alone will need 1.5 million more data-savvy professionals and 140,000–190,000 more professionals with deep analytic skills by 2020. Helping to create and nurture a broad pool of individuals with data science skills is critical to addressing this growing need and will require intentional action.The emergent field of data science offers the opportunity to narrow the gender gap in STEM (in which only 13% of the engineering workforce and 25% of the computer and mathematical sciences workforce are women [2]) by making diversity a priority early on. In addition to this being the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do: studies show that companies with employees characterized by diverse inherent traits (traits you were born with) and acquired traits (traits you gain from experience) are 45% more likely to report a growth in market share over the previous year, and 70% more likely to report capture of a new market [3]. Companies with diverse executive boards show higher returns on equity [4]. In short, diversity is a competitive asset in the private sector. In addition, increased diversity in STEM fields, including data science, is a national research and education priority [5].What better time, with increased focus on data science in the public sector, emerging educational curricula and focus within universities, and greater need within the private sector, to foster greater inclusivity and gender diversity? What can we do now to grow data science in a way that reflects the gender diversity and potential for innovation of the greater society?To evolve data science in a way that makes it a rewarding and sustainable career choice for women, we need to address two challenges: how can we increase the number of women acquiring skills and working in data science, and how can we evolve organizations and professional cultures to better retain and advance women in data science?     

The biological sciences in India: Aiming high for the future

India is gearing up to become an international player in the life sciences, powered by its recent economic growth and a desire to add biotechnology to its portfolio. In this article, we present the history, current state, and projected future growth of biological research in India. To fulfill its aspirations, India''s greatest challenge will be in educating, recruiting, and supporting its next generation of scientists. Such challenges are faced by the US/Europe, but are particularly acute in developing countries that are racing to achieve scientific excellence, perhaps faster than their present educational and faculty support systems will allow.India, like China, has been riding a rising economic wave. At the time of writing this article, four Indians rank among the ten wealthiest individuals in the world, and the middle class is projected to rise to 40% of the population by 2025 (Farrell and Beinhocker, 2007). Even with the present global economic setbacks, India''s economy is expected to grow to become the third largest in the world. India''s recent economic boom has been driven largely by its service and information technology industries, fueled to a large extent by jobs provided by multinational companies. However, this “outsourcing” model is unlikely to persist indefinitely. India''s future must rely upon its own capacity for innovation, which will require considerable investment in education and research.Biotechnology represents a potential sector of economic growth and an important component in India''s national health agenda. Appreciating the important role that biology will play in this century, the Indian government is expanding as well as starting several new biological research institutes, which will open up many new positions for life science researchers. Funds also are becoming available for state-of-the-art equipment, thus decreasing the earlier large disparity in support facilities between the top research institutes in India and the US/Europe. India is becoming an increasingly viable location to conduct biological research and a fertile ground for new biotechnology companies. However, success need not rise in proportion to money invested, unless India attracts and supports its best young people to do research.Many academic centers and industries in the US/Europe are beginning to have an eye on India, the world''s largest democratic country, for possible collaborations. Western institutions have long benefited from having Indian scientists on their faculty or postdoctoral fellows/graduate students in their laboratories (perhaps benefitting more than India itself). However, Western scientists, by and large, know very little about the scientific and educational systems in India. (As was true of authors of this article before we began our 8-month sabbatical at the National Center for Biological Sciences in Bangalore). The goal of this article is to provide a brief historical and contemporary view of the biological sciences in India. We also provide an editorial perspective on the upcoming challenges for the Indian life sciences, with a particular emphasis on how India will grow and support its next generation of scientific leaders.     

It's a Wonderful Life: A Career as an Academic Scientist

Many years of training are required to obtain a job as an academic scientist. Is this investment of time and effort worthwhile? My answer is a resounding “yes.” Academic scientists enjoy tremendous freedom in choosing their research and career path, experience unusual camaraderie in their lab, school, and international community, and can contribute to and enjoy being part of this historical era of biological discovery. In this essay, I further elaborate by listing my top ten reasons why an academic job is a desirable career for young people who are interested in the life sciences.Students are attracted to careers in academic science because of their interest in the subject rather than for financial reward. But then they hear messages that make them think twice about this career choice. It is difficult to find a job: “Hear about Joe? Three publications as a postdoc and still no job offers.” The NIH pay line is low: “Poor Patricia, she is now on her third submission of her first NIH grant.” Publishing is painful: “Felix''s grad school thesis work has been rejected by three journals!” Academic jobs are demanding: “Cathy has spent her last three weekends writing grants rather than being with her family.”Such scenarios do take place, but if you think that this is what a career in academic science is about, then you need to hear the other side of the story. And this is the purpose of this article—a chance to reflect on the many good things about the academic profession. In the classic movie It''s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is at the point of despair but regains his confidence through the wisdom and perspective of a guardian angel, Clarence. Doubt and setbacks also are bound to happen in science (as is true of other careers), but pessimism should not rule the day. It is a great profession and there are many happy endings. I would like to share my top ten reasons of why being an academic professor is a “wonderful life,” one that bright and motivated young people should continue to aspire to pursue.     

Georgy Gause’s shift from ecology and evolutionary biology to antibiotics research: reasons,objectives, circumstances

Georgy Gause (1910–1986) is best known for his contribution to ecology and evolutionary theory. His book “The Struggle for Existence” (1934) inspired generations of ecologists. Yet his scientific interests were diverse, embracing many aspects of the life sciences and medicine. The most notable shift in his research took place in the early 1940s when he began to study antibiotics and discovered Gramicidin S. Superficially, this shift looked like an attempt to switch from purely theoretical to applied research during the years of World War II, but Gause’s decision may also have been seriously affected by the “Great Purge” and the growth of Lysenkoism. Personal factors played a significant role in his career too. In this article, we propose four factors which drove Gause to switch his focus from ecology to antibiotics: the inner logic of his scientific research, Stalin’s science policy and the growth of Lysenkoism, the sociopolitical influence of World War II, and personal relationships. We will also show how all these factors are interdependent to some extent.     

A North Adriatic centenarian: The marine research station at Rovinj

The institute in Rovinj was founded in 1891 as the field station of the Berlin Aquarium. It soon gained in scientific importance. From 1911, it was governed by various scientific bodies, such as the ‘Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften’, the ‘Reale Comitato Talassografico Italiano’, and the ‘Jugoslavenska Akademija znanosti i umjetnosti’. At present, it is a department of the ‘Ru?er Bo?kovi?’ Institute, called the ‘Center for Marine Research Rovinj’. In the past hundred years, the Rovinj station experienced several ascents and declines in its development: both in the First and Second World Wars the station's scientific equipment, research vessels, library and reference collections were dispersed, and from 1945–1948 the station was closed. But in “happier” periods, rich support by the state and international bodies favoured the increase in research facilities and promoted interest among visiting scientists. The station has always been involved in studies of the Adriatic Sea, especially in its northern part. It contributed much to general knowledge of oceanography, of the physics and chemistry of the sea, but its paramount contribution is to various disciplines of marine biological sciences. Applied research, however, was most oriented to fisheries biology, especially shellfish culture, to resource studies, and, recently, to toxicology, bacteriology, eutrophication and pollution monitoring. The international approach in science and applied research was always favoured. At present, the Center is well equipped for complex coastal and offshore field- and laboratory research, and maintains facilities for graduate and postgraduate teaching. Scientific dissemination is also promoted by the public aquarium and professional meetings.