[–] DJ_RP 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
Not very surprising, and I expect the trend to continue to happen across all other fields. With school costs at what they are, and the difficulty obtaining University jobs it doesn't make sense to pursue these interests; despite how passionate an individual may be.
[–] moneyshift 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Too many people. Not enough jobs. Too little focus on basic research. This is the inevitable result.
[–] Beast-mode-freak ago (edited ago)
This, this right here. As a PhD in medical research, the current economy only funds "verified and applied research" looking for big pharma dollars and patent royalties. No funding for basic research basically becomes the bottle neck for the development of new breakthroughs and ideas (or lack thereof).
The politicians have zero foresight or forward planning ability. They only fund research that has proven data and publications to back it up, what happens when these dry up/run out??? They expect the best scientists to hand them guaranteed favorable outcomes on a platter with zero risk per investment dollar. Fucking idiots, basic science is where ideas become knowledge which leads to future advances. Not funding basic research basically condemns your scientists to either go to industry or move overseas to somewhere that is providing funding (and those countries will reap the rewards of the investment)
[–] cli-che-guevara 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Finish your doctorate, apply for a postdoc, pray there is funding, basically do a second doctorate in half the time for almost no pay, pray you find an associate professor gig at some state school that doesn't even supply a coat closet as lab space and pays less than working at Costco but demands you teach 4 sections of a gen-ed class while managing several grad students that you end up spending 20 hours a week writing grant proposals to help fund, at the same time you're forced to chair some departmental committee, and maybe by 40 you'll have a middle-class income and be on a tenure track... if your publications cut it and none of your coeds cry sexual harassment because you gave them a C for doing C work in that mind numbing 103 Introduction to Evolution class...
Or go private sector and make some money to pay off your loans and hang out with your friends on the weekends.
not a hard choice these days
[–] 2922881? ago
what about the other natural sciences such as chemistry and physics?
[–] Le_Squish 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Same problem...where you gonna work? You like big pharma or government work? Independent organizations concerned with the betterment of humanity hardly exist.
[–] 2925383? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
agreed.
I refuse to work for evil companies, and that really really really narrows the market for me