Seeking Solace in Science

Home , Ed Yong

Work / Careers the paywall applies beyond papers related to COVID-19, providing essential reading mat erial to relieve the inevitable boredom and the SEEKING SOLACE anxiety of being locked in our houses, proving that if there is a will, there is a way. • Finally, automated messages from journals IN SCIENCE FUN chasing peer reviews have been eliminated and extensions offered. This crisis has high- Videos, podcasts and light reading can lighted how automated computerized actions are inhuman during a time when researchers help to lift the mood. By Atma Ivancevic are constrained by new methods of working and teaching, illustrating the need for general humanity in our research behaviour. ind your passion” is, I think, one my day-to-day work, a reassurance during In my view, kindness in research culture is of the most overused and unhelp- these uncertain times. Here are some of the possible beyond COVID-19 — and efforts to ful clichés spouted on university resources I use whenever I need a science make the research world a nicer place to work “ campuses. The idea that every- pick-me-up. were happening long before the coronavirus one has a fixed set of interests crisis. In January 2018, Nature reported on a is harmful,F because it encourages us to drop YouTube ‘Kindness in Science’ workshop held at the subjects that don’t instantly bedazzle us. It cre- Learning scientific concepts through video University of Auckland, New Zealand (see ates the illusion that the perfect project will can be entertaining, informative and some- Nature 553, 367–369; 2018). And in September always be enjoyable. In reality, every scientific times hilarious. Here are some of my favourite last year, the UK charitable research funder venture comes with its own set of challenges. channels. Wellcome launched a “reimagine research” And choosing a PhD or postdoctoral project is Simone Giertz (go.nature.com/2kr4vbn). campaign. A summit on the topic, due to be influenced as much by factors such as location Formerly known as the Queen of Shitty Robots, held in London on 18 March, was postponed and availability as by topic. Giertz has made videos that showcase the until later in 2020 because of COVID-19. Although PhD work can spark passion, it has delight of making useless things, as well as For change to happen, it’s important to a dark side. Nature’s November 2019 survey not-so-useless things such as a Tesla turned recognize why previous calls for a culture of more than 6,000 graduate students found pick-up truck — Truckla. shift were heeded but rarely put into prac- that although most respondents were satis- A capella science (go.nature.com/2xve6bf). tice. Why was this? A reluctance to change, fied with their decision to pursue a PhD, more Combining deep science with sweet harmony, than one-third had sought help for anxiety or Tim Blais creates musical summaries of a huge “The pandemic has depression caused by their PhD studies (see range of science topics including, but not lim- Nature 575, 406–406; 2019). The fact that ited to, evolutionary developmental biology, shown that with the students keep enrolling in PhD programmes, quarks and exoplanets. right impetus, change despite the documented experiences of past True Facts by zefrank1 (go.nature. can happen.” students, perhaps points towards a love of sci- com/3awzxzm). As an Australian in the United ence and discovery that doesn’t always make States studying mammals, I often get asked its presence felt in the day-to-day work of a about kangaroos and koalas. I always recom- lack of reward and recognition, personal PhD student. mend his marsupials explanation (go.nature. ambition? Perhaps it goes into the ‘too hard’ Scientists everywhere have faced unprec- com/2vuyuun). basket because of institutionalized practices edented challenges in the past few weeks as (human, managerial and technological) that laboratories shut down and employees shifted Podcasts are, by nature, resistant to change. to working from home. For some of us, these Currently, my go-to science podcasts are Buffs The increased competitiveness and changes occurred within the space of a week, Talk Science and Science Vs. pressure towards research and university meaning that all experiments and cell lines excellence (highlighted during the February had to be thrown out or frozen down at only a Layperson-friendly reading 2020 strikes by UK academics) drive a culture few days’ notice. Having worked from home I often read summaries (across all fields, not in which the mental health of researchers is for two weeks now, I’ve realized that life as a just genetics) by Ed Yong (The Atlantic) and compromised and discriminatory behav- remote scientist is full of Zoom lab meetings, Carl Zimmer (The New York Times) before pur- iours are overlooked, and then embedded in Zoom hacking sessions, Zoom catch-ups and suing the underlying publications. research practice. occasional Zoom happy hours (complete with The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that ‘quarantinis’). As a computational biologist Science is meant to be fun. Taking a break to with the right impetus, change can happen. with no children or teaching obligations, the program with pictures or revel in an interest- There are still many elements of research cul- transition to working from home should the- ing discovery about barnacle sex can make ture that are in need of change, such as gender oretically have been easy. As a human with the self-isolation of working from home more and racial disparities, bias and the need for increasing worries and a limited attention bearable. Whether that means experiencing more opportunities to foster the careers of span, the current situation is, at best, dis- Eminem-inspired physics a capella or discov- young researchers, to name a few. In the mean- tracting. ering a new podcast, we could all use some time, we could use the momentum of COVID- Personally, I’ve stopped counting how light-hearted science right now. 19 to firmly embed kindness into research many ‘productive’ hours I have in a day. practice, extending greater goodwill beyond Instead, I’ve found it helpful to stay up to Atma Ivancevic is a bioinformatics postdoc this temporary situation. date with aspects of science that interest me, at the University of Colorado Boulder. She even if my current topic or task is not going studies ancient retroviruses: genetic parasites Gemma Derrick is a senior lecturer in higher smoothly. I find the reminder that I’m still that invaded our ancestors millions of years education at Lancaster University, UK. ‘into’ science, which I often get from outside ago and still have a role in modern diseases.