Women in Science

So, one day I will get to the end of my Ph.D. and I'll be thinking about what to do next. There was that big incident where Larry Summers (ex prez of Harvard) went on about why there weren't more females as profs. There were statements about innate ability (or lack thereof) and it was a hot topic for a while. I found this article about women in science written by a man (hmmm) but covers a fair amount of what we have talked about in the lab. Science is not a way to get rich and certainly not a way to get rich quick. The hours will suck, the pay will stink and you'll be old before you start.

A summary quote from the article about why there are fewer women profs:

"Most people go to work primarily in order to earn a paycheck. Workers prefer a higher salary to a lower salary. Jobs in science pay far less than jobs in the professions and business held by women of similar ability. A lot of men are irrational, romantic, stubborn, and unwilling to admit that they've made a big mistake. With Occam's Razor, we should not need to bring in the FBI to solve the mystery of why there are more men than women who have chosen to stick with the choice that they made at age 18 to be a professor of science or mathematics."

So as I write this am I bitter about my Ph.D? No. This degree has the intellectual stimulation I was always going to require, I didn't see any jobs I wanted with just my undergrad degree and I really *really* like working with smart people. Its just an interesting article. The big question is what to do next?

Science as drug

Nature article about a dinosaur show and the experts quote who attended:

"Dinosaurs, he says, are "a gateway drug for the sciences". A lot of kids scored tonight."

What I really don't like

Religion can be wonderful. Religion can be bad. This kind of stuff really pisses me off.

The head of the Catholic Church in Mozambique has told the BBC he believes some European-made condoms are infected with HIV deliberately.

The Bishop claims "Condoms are not sure because I know that there are two countries in Europe, they are making condoms with the virus on purpose,"

The Bishop's words sound like they carry a lot of weight in Mozambique so how many people will die because of his lies?

Quotable

Well, I haven't posted in a while so here's a quote from the Globe and Mail.

"It's so romantic. It's romance. I was playing poker one night in my room and I was down about $250,000. He said if I made out with him, I could clear the thing. And I ended up paying off my poker debt. And then I fell in love and now we are engaged."

Actress Pamela Anderson, 40, discussing a new man in her life.

Hmmm, I like how the Globe writer says "...a new man" and not 'the new man' in her life.

Back from the shop

So I had the bike into the shop for some air going into the carb repairs. I was wondering if they remember much about me at the shop and turns out they do. The man at the counter said they were recently using me to goad a guy into driving his bike into the shop without a clutch. You'll remember back when I had my little adventure. "Well, one of female customers drove her bike in without a clutch and she was going further than you have to go, and she had less torque". So yeah, not so keen on the "a girl could do it" but thats current reality (maybe biological research used to be that way but things have changed and now girls are usually the majority). Anyway, as long as they don't go on and mention why the bike had a broken clutch in the first place....