A Cry from a Scientist

                 This post is going to be a lot of venting so I apologize in advance.  However, part of science is anger – full-fledged, I want to throw something against the wall (or kick a trashcan across the room) seething rage.  Mine has been building up for close to two years and there are days when I feel like I can’t take it much longer.  Lucky you gets to read it, but at least you can read it knowing that I am not the only scientist with these thoughts or rages.  At one point or another, all professionals reach a point where life has handed them too much.

                I read a lot of message boards about various life topics.  I enjoy being able to escape science every now and then because, let’s be honest, when your experiments aren’t working, you are about two inches away from jumping off a cliff.  Recently, I’ve been reading my fair share of pregnancy and marriage boards because that’s the state of life I’m currently living.  It’s interesting to hear from real people about what happens next.  Unfortunately for me, I’ve read too many vaccine debate threads recently.  They make me want to tear my hair out.  It’s no one’s fault, of course – the internet is littered with horrible websites expounding ideas that are entirely false.  And then, in this celebrity-obsessed culture, we have Jenny McCarthy spewing some of the most inaccurate theories ever that some people are more than willing to lap up, so I want to throttle her.  Plus, we have the media who finds a story and holds onto it obsessively like a dog that has gotten his very first treat.  One paper linked vaccines to autism; tens of papers have since refuted it and all but one of the authors on the original paper has recanted.  Yet, the “debate” rages on. 

Today, an article appeared on CNN.com entitled “Science journal could provide recipe for bioterrorism.”  I cursed too many times to repeat my exact reaction here when I read it.  The best part?  It’s at least a week too late; Nature published one of the two articles in question last week.  I posted about it on both this blog and Dr. Amedeo.  So, if the recipe for bioterrorism is out there (which it really isn’t) then it was leaked seven days ago.  But, you know what really gets me about the article?  It’s inflammatory journalism about a topic that not too many people have the background to understand.  I am in no way saying they are ill educated - I am saying that they need the proper setting to understand why these papers are linked to bioterrorism and to see that they aren't.  CNN.com doesn't provide such context. They just spew out words like “avian flu,” “pandemic,” and “d-e-a-t-h” so people will read it and think that scientists are irresponsible.  The fact that a moratorium was placed on this research months ago and that many major scientific institutions discussed the research before publishing it is inconsequential.  Scientists are out to make a super-duper avian flu, they are unethically publishing this work, bioterrorists are going to read it to kill us all, and we’re definitely covering up that vaccines cause autism.  Oh, and we’re responsible for all the “chemicals” in the world.  What else?

Let me just be one scientist to say: holy god, we are NOT doing any of the above.  Also, don’t get your scientific information from your local news, CNN, FoxNews, a freaking celebrity or anyone other than a real live, honest-to-goodness scientist with a Ph.D. who has done real research that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Let’s also talk about these statements: “All this money given to scientific research and they still don’t have a cure for cancer!” or “How has science not come up with a medication for that yet?”  Believe me – if it’s a subject worthy of research, someone out there is working on it.  Do you know how many labs are working on cancer research?  “Cancer” is also such an all-inclusive word.  Each cancer is different and has its own set of problems.  This isn’t going to be a one-medicine-fits-all cure.  Scientific research is also expensive.  Supplies, ideas, and troubleshooting experiments take time and money.  And don’t think that the scientists doing the research are making money hand over fist here, either.  I could tell you what I made as a graduate student (which is a position in lab just as hard-working as a post doctoral associate or staff scientist), but I don’t want to scare off anyone who might be interested in science.  What I make as a post doc is a matter of public knowledge and can be found on the NIH’swebsite.  Yes, the government determines the worth of my Ph.D. and, let me tell you, they don’t think highly of it.  The scientists who are doing the cutting edge research are not fairly compensated for their time, efforts, and thoughts.  And then, as a thank you for all the work we do, we are slandered in the media, discussed incorrectly by the general public, and generally on the receiving end of all sorts of fear-mongering.

All of this goes back to why I write this blog.  I want people to understand.  I want more people to get it.  I wish everyone understood that we’re in the trenches here, getting little recognition or payment and doing it out of our love for science.  I’m sure every profession has a part of the experience ladder like this.  I am not special or different, but I at least have a platform to vent my frustrations.  I know that my husband could sit down and write an equally impassioned post about how lawyers are thought to be something they aren’t, as well.  He has taught me quite a bit about how the law profession works and removed a lot of my knee-jerk reactions to lawyers.  He should get a blog, too.

Read Science (www.sciencemag.org) or Nature (www.nature.com) for excellent information pertaining to scientific topics.