I like to tweet random things during the week (follow me @MrEpid), but for those who don’t use Twitter, here are some interesting posts I’ve come across this past week:
- Travis Saunders over at Science of Blogging talks about whether a successful academic career and fulfilling personal life are mutually exclusive or not.
- Dr Yoni Freedhoff discusses whether severely obese children should be removed from their homes
- Dr Arya Sharma writes about gene-environment interactions
- Martin Fenner asks: Did you receive spam because you published a paper?
- To completely shift gears, I’ve had smooth jazz Nyan Cat stuck in my head all week (for original Nyan Cat, click here)
And that’s all for now. Come back on Monday for a new entry!
Have a great weekend!
-Atif
Mr Epidemiology 
July 16, 2011 at 11:30 am
I read the one about academic careers versus a personal life. I have to say that in my experience (not my PERSONAL experience as I am not a PhD student, but those I have known), this doesn’t seem to be an issue. Almost all of the profs that I have known well have had active family lives, while still being relevant in their careers. Also, I have noticed that it’s extremely common for ladies who are working on their PhD to have babies. It was an interesting read but just doesn’t seem to jive with what I’ve seen in the academic world so far.
July 16, 2011 at 6:23 pm
I’ll let Travis comment further on this, but I have seen both extremes. In any field, I think there is a balance between work and family, and depending on the partners and what sacrifices they are willing to make, it can work, or it can break the family apart.
I will say that in academia, I have heard positive things from female colleagues, especially those who want to raise children. There is flexibility with where you can work, your hours and this is helpful for those who want to raise children.
At the end of the day, I think a lot comes down to both partners and their dynamic together.
July 17, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Like most fields, I’m sure these things vary from one group to the next. But in my relatively short time in academia, I have heard people criticize those that they felt were taking too much time away from the lab to raise their children (interestingly, all of those criticisms have been against males) and I know female colleagues who’ve said they had a hard time finding collaborators early in their careers because other faculty members worried they were going to go on mat leave as soon as possible. Those may be exceptional cases, but I definitely feel that some among the “old guard” view any extra-curricular activities as time ill spent.