Correlation vs. Causation

Husband dropped by the lab to visit this week and take advantage of the free food and beer following a poster competition in which I had to present.  Last night, he commented that science must be really stressful, because he noticed most of the younger females (mid 20s-30s), especially in my lab, all had lots of grey hair.  Being a good little (rude) scientist, I immediately interrupted him mid-sentence, reminding him that correlation does not imply causation.

I offered up the alternative that, perhaps, lots of women in lots of fields are developing grey hairs by this point in their lives, but they are more proactive about hiding them.  I have a lot of friends who started experimenting with their hair color by the age of 14 and never stopped; they have no recollection of their natural hair color.  If you've been regularly dyeing your hair for 15 years, how would you even know if you had grey hair starting to come in?  Perhaps scientists, widely stereotyped for being fashion-challenged, never played around with hair color in the first place (I only tried once, attempting to dye my hair with purple manic panic in a hotel in Virginia Beach on a high school trip, but my hair was far too dark for it to show up).

Once those grey hairs show up noticeably, perhaps women in other more conservative, formal professions start scheduling regular 6-week appointments to cover up those greys.  Here in science, though -- well, if you could feasibly show up to work in a stained shirt and ripped jeans (frequently observed on male graduate students in the chemistry department), certainly no one is going to bat an eye at a few (or many) grey hairs.  When you're working 80+ hours/week for less financial compensation than anyone else you know working a normal 40 hour work week, there really isn't time or funding for regular hair appointments.

So, what are your thoughts?  Does working in science cause premature greying?  Or are scientists just too busy and/or unmotivated to keep up appearances as women in other fields?

And, most importantly, is this my husband's way of hinting that perhaps I need to take time out to do something about 4-months worth of grey roots?

Non-Academic Careers

I’m helping a post-doc in our lab take over the career development seminars for my program.  Our program really offers no support to students looking at options outside academia, and many of the investigators actively discourage trainees from pursuing other opportunities.   We are trying to help fill this gap by bringing in speakers from a variety of non-academic scientific careers to share a bit about what it is they do, how they got there, and give everyone some other career opportunities for down the road.
I’ve spent the past year or so conducting informational interviews with everyone and anyone who will sit down and talk to me about what they do, but unfortunately, I’m averaging only about a 10% success rate in regards to emails sent to actual phone conversations had.  I recently sent out another wave of emails to those in the area who were willing to talk to me about possibly coming in for a general career chat with others in my department, but I’m looking for more people and more careers to explore.
So, this is where you come in.  Throw those ideas at me – no matter how off the beaten path.  Once you have that Ph.D. in biomedical sciences, what can you do with it?  Super duper extra bonus points (and cookies sent in the mail) if you have an actual contact in the greater Washington area who might be willing to come talk to a bunch of senior graduate students and post-docs!

Career Considerations

It is no secret that I've been fairly unhappy of late with my graduate school experience. There's a lot about my lab I dislike, a lot about my research I dislike, and a lot about how long it is taking me to do the research that causes other things I dislike (i.e., long distance marriage of 19 months and counting). I try very hard to remind myself that just because I am having this one bad experience does not mean I should write off all of academic research, but some days, I just can't imagine ever wanting to step foot in an academic laboratory every again. As such, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for alternative career opportunities. So far, there are two strong contenders:

1) Yeast Laboratory
I was able to escape the lab for a weekend to visit my parents over Hanukkah. During the weekend, we took a tour Troegs, a local microbrewery, producers of fine beers such as Troegenator, HopBack Amber, Dreamweaver Wheat, Flying Mouflan, and Mad Elf. During the tour, we learned that this pint-sized microbrewery in the middle of Harrisburg employs not one, but two full time microbiologists to manage the yeast laboratory. A job requiring a science background playing an integral part in the brewing process? SIGN ME UP.  (And, even better, if you notice that the laboratory is empty, that's because it is a Saturday, and the microbiologists don't work weekends.)

 

Dear Troegs: HIRE ME FOR YOUR YEAST LABORATORY. YOU CAN PAY ME IN BEER.

2) Polamolecules
What on earth, you may ask, are Polamolecules? Watch the quick video below to educate yourself.

Now, seriously. Science + Polamalu + great hair? It's a match made in career heaven!

Dear Procter & Gamble: HIRE ME TO STUDY POLAMOLECULES.

Any other suggestions to add to my career considerations??