The Challenge of Getting Your First Grant Before You Retire ...

According to a new study recently published in PLoS ONE, US-based biomed researchers obtain their first NIH grants at the average age of 42 (sic!).  I don't need any other argument to keep away from this career path...

Age Comparison between NIH PIs and First-Time Recipients with Nobel Recipients, 1980- 2010, Matthews et al., PLoS ONE, 2011; click to enlarge

(Ir)rational approaches to decision-making...

I've recently attended a seminar where a highly enthusiastic young pediatrician was trying to convince the public that her research on environmental disruptors of the endocrine system during prenatal development is (1) interesting and important, and (2) can contribute to shaping policy in terms of child safety products regulations. What she is trying to figure out is whether certain types of chemicals, phtalens, which can be found in plastic products such as kitchen utensils and toys, as well as in foods rich in fat (cheeses, red meat), can cause developmental abnormalities in the reproductive system of boys. The reason to study this, according to her words, is to ask the question whether pregnant women should be advised to avoid such products and to eventually introduce regulations that will ban/set restrictions on phtalens content in products which are considered as safe for soon-to-be-born children and babies. At first sight, the idea does not seem unreasonable, but doubts start to rise when we pay more attention to the problem. Despite the concerns of methodological nature which I will not talk about, I don't see much sense in pursuing such studies. Let me explain why.