“Science allows us to communicate across the seas and fly above the clouds, to cure disease and understand the cosmos, but those same discoveries can be turned into ever more efficient killing machines.” (科学のおかげで我々は海を越えてコミュニケーションを取り、雲より高く空を飛び、病気を治し、宇宙を理解することができる。しかし、これらの同じ発見が、今まで以上に効果的な殺人装置へと変わり得る。) – Barack Obama
“Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us. The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well.” (科学技術の進歩は、人間社会の進歩を伴わなければ、我々を破滅させる。原子核を分裂させるに至った科学革命には、倫理的な革命も同時に必要である) – Barack Obama
[Obama’s speech in Hiroshima] オバマ大統領 広島でのスピーチ
Text of President Obama’s Speech in Hiroshima, Japan (ニューヨークタイムズ MAY 27, 2016)
Seventy-one years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky and the world was changed. A flash of light and a wall of fire destroyed a city and demonstrated that mankind possessed the means to destroy itself.
Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held prisoner.
Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, to take stock of who we are and what we might become.
It is not the fact of war that sets Hiroshima apart. Artifacts tell us that violent conflict appeared with the very first man. Our early ancestors having learned to make blades from flint and spears from wood used these tools not just for hunting but against their own kind. On every continent, the history of civilization is filled with war, whether driven by scarcity of grain or hunger for gold, compelled by nationalist fervor or religious zeal. Empires have risen and fallen. Peoples have been subjugated and liberated. And at each juncture, innocents have suffered, a countless toll, their names forgotten by time.The world war that reached its brutal end in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was fought among the wealthiest and most powerful of nations. Their civilizations had given the world great cities and magnificent art. Their thinkers had advanced ideas of justice and harmony and truth. And yet the war grew out of the same base instinct for domination or conquest that had caused conflicts among the simplest tribes, an old pattern amplified by new capabilities and without new constraints.
In the span of a few years, some 60 million people would die. Men, women, children, no different than us. Shot, beaten, marched, bombed, jailed, starved, gassed to death. There are many sites around the world that chronicle this war, memorials that tell stories of courage and heroism, graves and empty camps that echo of unspeakable depravity.Yet in the image of a mushroom cloud that rose into these skies, we are most starkly reminded of humanity’s core contradiction. How the very spark that marks us as a species, our thoughts, our imagination, our language, our toolmaking, our ability to set ourselves apart from nature and bend it to our will — those very things also give us the capacity for unmatched destruction.
How often does material advancement or social innovation blind us to this truth? How easily we learn to justify violence in the name of some higher cause.
Every great religion promises a pathway to love and peace and righteousness, and yet no religion has been spared from believers who have claimed their faith as a license to kill.
Nations arise telling a story that binds people together in sacrifice and cooperation, allowing for remarkable feats. But those same stories have so often been used to oppress and dehumanize those who are different.
Science allows us to communicate across the seas and fly above the clouds, to cure disease and understand the cosmos, but those same discoveries can be turned into ever more efficient killing machines.
The wars of the modern age teach us this truth. Hiroshima teaches this truth. Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us. The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well.
That is why we come to this place. We stand here in the middle of this city and force ourselves to imagine the moment the bomb fell. We force ourselves to feel the dread of children confused by what they see. We listen to a silent cry. We remember all the innocents killed across the arc of that terrible war and the wars that came before and the wars that would follow.
Mere words cannot give voice to such suffering. But we have a shared responsibility to look directly into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again.
Some day, the voices of the hibakusha will no longer be with us to bear witness. But the memory of the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, must never fade. That memory allows us to fight complacency. It fuels our moral imagination. It allows us to change.
And since that fateful day, we have made choices that give us hope. The United States and Japan have forged not only an alliance but a friendship that has won far more for our people than we could ever claim through war. The nations of Europe built a union that replaced battlefields with bonds of commerce and democracy. Oppressed people and nations won liberation. An international community established institutions and treaties that work to avoid war and aspire to restrict and roll back and ultimately eliminate the existence of nuclear weapons.
Still, every act of aggression between nations, every act of terror and corruption and cruelty and oppression that we see around the world shows our work is never done. We may not be able to eliminate man’s capacity to do evil, so nations and the alliances that we form must possess the means to defend ourselves. But among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.
We may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe. We can chart a course that leads to the destruction of these stockpiles. We can stop the spread to new nations and secure deadly materials from fanatics.
And yet that is not enough. For we see around the world today how even the crudest rifles and barrel bombs can serve up violence on a terrible scale. We must change our mind-set about war itself. To prevent conflict through diplomacy and strive to end conflicts after they’ve begun. To see our growing interdependence as a cause for peaceful cooperation and not violent competition. To define our nations not by our capacity to destroy but by what we build. And perhaps, above all, we must reimagine our connection to one another as members of one human race.
For this, too, is what makes our species unique. We’re not bound by genetic code to repeat the mistakes of the past. We can learn. We can choose. We can tell our children a different story, one that describes a common humanity, one that makes war less likely and cruelty less easily accepted.
We see these stories in the hibakusha. The woman who forgave a pilot who flew the plane that dropped the atomic bomb because she recognized that what she really hated was war itself. The man who sought out families of Americans killed here because he believed their loss was equal to his own.
My own nation’s story began with simple words: All men are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Realizing that ideal has never been easy, even within our own borders, even among our own citizens. But staying true to that story is worth the effort. It is an ideal to be strived for, an ideal that extends across continents and across oceans. The irreducible worth of every person, the insistence that every life is precious, the radical and necessary notion that we are part of a single human family — that is the story that we all must tell.
That is why we come to Hiroshima. So that we might think of people we love. The first smile from our children in the morning. The gentle touch from a spouse over the kitchen table. The comforting embrace of a parent. We can think of those things and know that those same precious moments took place here, 71 years ago.
Those who died, they are like us. Ordinary people understand this, I think. They do not want more war. They would rather that the wonders of science be focused on improving life and not eliminating it. When the choices made by nations, when the choices made by leaders, reflect this simple wisdom, then the lesson of Hiroshima is done.
The world was forever changed here, but today the children of this city will go through their day in peace. What a precious thing that is. It is worth protecting, and then extending to every child. That is a future we can choose, a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the start of our own moral awakening.
As the federal government and state elected leaders launched legal battles over North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law Monday, UNC system President Margaret Spellings said the university is “truly caught in the middle.” … “Our first responsibility as a University is to serve our students, faculty, and staff and provide a welcoming and safe place for all,” Spellings said in a written statement. “The University takes its obligation to comply with federal non-discrimination laws very seriously. We also must adhere to laws duly enacted by the State’s General Assembly and Governor, however. HB2 remains the law of the State, and the University has no independent power to change that legal reality.” … In 2014-15, the UNC system received $1.4 billion in federal funds. (UNC President Spellings: UNC system caught in middle of state, federal fight on HB2. The News & Observer By Jane Stancill May 9, 2016 6:32 PM)
The United States and North Carolina tangled over transgender rights on Monday, with the Justice Department filing a civil rights lawsuit over the state’s so-called bathroom bill and state officials defiantly filing suits against the federal directive to stop the implementation of the controversial legislation.
Obama Administration Issues Guidance on Transgender Bathroom Use in Schools (Wall Street Journal By Devlin Barrett Updated May 13, 2016 10:20 a.m. ET):”The Obama administration Friday told educators around the country they should allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker facilities of their chosen gender, saying federal law bars discrimination against such students. …”
NC Gov. defends “bathroom bill” Published on May 11, 2016 North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed the “bathroom law”, tells Jake Tapper that HB2 protects the privacy of non-transgender people at public facilities.
Published on May 10, 2016 Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced that the Justice Department has filed a complaint against the state of North Carolina, the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (DPS) alleging that they are discriminating against transgender individuals in violation of federal law as a result of the state’s compliance with and implementation of House Bill 2 (H.B. 2). H.B. 2 requires public agencies to treat transgender individuals, whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth, differently from similarly situated non-transgender individuals.
Published on May 9, 2016 North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory explained the state’s filing of a lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department over the Department’s designation of “House Bill Two” as violating the US Civil Rights Act. Federal officials have filed their own lawsuit.
Why LGBT Advocates Say Bathroom ‘Predators’ Argument Is a Red Herring (TIME Katy Steinmetz @katysteinmetz May 2, 2016):”It’s become a common refrain in recent months: Allowing transgender people to use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity will end up letting male sexual predators into women’s bathrooms. …”
The Bathroom Bill Battle | All In | MSNBC Published on Apr 25, 2016
ざけんじゃねー!トランスジェンダーとバスルーム事情とアメリカの今後の行方 (New York Niche April 13, 2016):”…今年の3月には、ノースカロライナのシャーロット市が、トランスジェンダーの人々が自分たちの性別認識と一致する公衆トイレを使う権利を保護しようとする独自の条例を通過させたことにより、ノースカロライナ州議会が即座に反応し、HB2(the House Bill 2 or the barhroom bill)の項目により、トランスジェンダーの公衆トイレ使用時には「出生証明証に記載された性別に応じてトイレを使うよう義務付ける」という法案を上院下院ともに通過させた。反対派がいたのにも関わらず、3月23日の夜、ノースカロライナの州知事パット・マックロリーは、あっさりこれにサインをした。…”
Spellings worries about HB2 impact on UNC system (WRAL.com Posted April 8):”The statewide discrimination law that lawmakers passed last month could have a “chill” on University of North Carolina campuses, UNC President Margaret Spellings said Friday.
…”
UNC’s Folt declines comment after system president says HB2 will be enforced (By WNCN Staff Published: April 7, 2016, 1:32 pm Updated: April 8, 2016, 12:12 pm):”RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – A number of groups and students in North Carolina are upset after University of North Carolina system President Margaret Spellings announced Thursday that the system will follow House Bill 2, the controversial bill that prevents transgender people from using the restrooms that corresponds to their gender identity. …”
LGBTQ community fights HB2 (Mary Cox April 6, 2016):”North Carolina’s newest legislation—known as HB2—reverses a Charlotte ordinance, which extended rights to people who are gay or transgender. Carrboro’s LGBTQ community plans to fight this bill until laws are changed. …”
UNC faculty speak out against HB2 the same day the law is taken to court (dailytarheel.com Hayley Fowler 03/29/16 12:06am):”UNC-system faculty and students are outraged in the aftermath of House Bill 2, and they want the General Assembly and Gov. Pat McCrory to know. More than 50 UNC-Chapel Hill faculty, all of whom are graduates of or currently participating in the University’s Academic Leadership Program for faculty leaders on campus, signed a statement against the bill Tuesday — just as two civil rights organizations and three North Carolina residents filed a lawsuit naming McCrory, the UNC system and Board of Governors Chairperson Louis Bissette as defendants. …”
トランスジェンダーのトイレ問題、全米で論争 (Wall Street Journal By VALERIE BAUERLEIN 2016 年 3 月 25 日 17:15 JST):”… ノースカロライナ州は23日、男女別が明記されている公共施設について、出生時の性別に基づいた利用に限定する法律を全米で初めて成立させた。超党派の団体である全米州議会協議会(NCSL)によると、他に少なくとも13州が似たような法律の制定を検討している。…”
House Bill 2 (North Carolina General Assembly 03/23/2016)
Schools Are Switching To Gender-Neutral Bathrooms Published on Sep 11, 2015. A San Francisco elementary school has began to eliminate gender-assigned bathrooms for their students. Of the 365 students at the school about 8 kids don’t identify with their assigned gender.
Is It Illegal for a Man to Use the Ladies’ Room? ( North Carolina Criminal Law A UNC School of Government Blog Posted on May. 6, 2015, 9:36 am by Jeff Welty):”In Charlotte, there is a controversy over whether a transgendered person should use the bathroom assigned to his or her biological sex or to the sex with which he or she identifies. The Charlotte Observer has the story here. This post doesn’t address that issue directly, but instead concerns a related question that the story prompted me to ponder: is it illegal for a man to use the ladies’ room? There doesn’t seem to be much law directly addressing this topic, or the similar if not identical issue of whether it is illegal for a woman to use the men’s room. …”
【発言全文】「同性愛は個人的趣味」 支援を疑問視する杉並区議の発言に批判 (YAHOO! JAPAN ニュース/ BuzzFeed Japan 2月21日(日)8時18分配信):”東京都杉並区の小林ゆみ区議が「同性愛は個人的趣味」「自治体が時間と予算を使う必要があるのか」などと議会で発言した。これに対し、当事者たちから「趣味の話ではない」などと反発が出ている。 … 小林区議の性的少数者に関する質問全文 杉並区議会・小林ゆみ議員(自民・無所属・維新クラブ) 昨年に実施された電通総研の調査によると、日本人の約13人に1人が性的マイノリティであるという結果が出ています。今までよりもそう言った話題が俎上に登ることが多くなったこともあり、区としても実態把握に努める必要があるのではないか、と思えるほどに性的マイノリティの人権を守るための運動は日本でも広がってきています。…ここで整理をしておきたいのですが、レズ・ゲイ・バイは性的指向であるのに対し、トランスジェンダーは性的自認であり、医師の認定が必要である明らかな障害であると言えます。トランスジェンダーの方は法律的に保護する必要があり、世間的な目からの誤解を解かねばなりませんので、彼らの人権のために区が啓蒙活動をするのは問題ないと考えます。また、トランスジェンダーの方は、障害であると認められているからこそ、性別を変更できるなどの法的な救済策が定められています。それに対し、レズ・ゲイ・バイは性的指向であり、現時点では障害であるかどうかが医学的にはっきりしていません。そもそも地方自治体が現段階で、性的指向、すなわち個人的趣味の分野にまで多くの時間と予算を費やすことは、本当に必要なのでしょうか。その前提に基づき、幾つか質問をしていきます。…”
論文:The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications.Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452
カテゴリーI(単純な再利用)の例
(引用元:The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452)
カテゴリーII(画像の位置をずらして再利用)の例
(引用元:The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452)
カテゴリーIII(画像に変更を加えて再利用)の例
(引用元:The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452)
調査した論文数および、同定された画像再利用論文数の雑誌別まとめ
Journal Title
Publisher
Impact Factor 2013
Screened
Papers with ID
% ID
PLOS ONE
PLOS
3.53
8138
348
4.28
PLOS Pathogens
PLOS
8.06
406
9
2.22
PLOS Genetics
PLOS
8.17
362
4
1.10
PLOS Biology
PLOS
11.77
233
6
2.58
PLOS NTD
PLOS
4.49
317
17
5.36
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
ASM
4.23
595
11
1.85
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
ASM
3.95
292
8
2.74
mBio
ASM
6.88
175
3
1.71
Infection and Immunity
ASM
4.16
1070
30
2.80
Journal of Virology
ASM
4.65
421
11
2.61
International journal of cancer
Wiley
5.01
226
10
4.42
Clinical Microbiology and Infection
Wiley
5.20
199
1
0.50
Journal of Applied Microbiology
Wiley
2.39
200
3
1.50
Environmental Microbiology
Wiley
6.24
189
5
2.65
Microbiology and Immunology
Wiley
1.31
358
3
0.84
Letters in Applied Microbiology
Wiley
1.75
123
2
1.63
BioMed Research International
Hindawi
2.71
77
8
10.39
Evid Based Compl Alternat Med
Hindawi
2.18
96
10
10.42
BMC Microbiology
BMC
2.98
340
23
6.76
Genome Biology
BMC
10.47
105
1
0.95
Breast Cancer Research
BMC
5.88
403
20
4.96
BMC Cancer
BMC
3.32
145
8
5.52
Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis
Elsevier
2.57
115
3
2.61
Lung Cancer
Elsevier
3.74
317
11
3.47
Cytokine
Elsevier
2.87
464
28
6.03
Journal of Autoimmunity
Elsevier
7.02
150
6
4.00
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol
Springer
3.81
230
8
3.48
Breast Cancer Res Treatment
Springer
4.20
206
12
5.83
Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology
Springer
2.57
542
29
5.35
Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry
Springer
2.39
800
43
5.38
Growth Factors
Informa
3.09
166
10
6.02
Cancer Investigation
Informa
2.06
220
13
5.91
Leukemia & Lymphoma
Informa
2.61
404
13
3.22
International Journal of Oncology
Spandidos
2.77
89
11
12.36
Science
AAAS
31.48
681
9
1.32
Nature
Nature
42.35
750
12
1.60
Nature Oncogene
Nature
8.46
150
7
4.67
Cancer Cell
Cell Press
23.89
188
6
3.19
Journal of Cell Biology
RU Press
9.79
329
1
0.30
PNAS
NAS
9.81
350
19
5.43
合計20621
合計782
% ID 3.79
(引用元:The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452)
(引用元:The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications. Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452)
The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications.Elisabeth MBik, ArturoCasadevall, Ferric CFang bioRxiv doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/049452
Our image duplication project on bioRxiv (Posted on April 22, 2016 by eliesbik Microbiome Digest – Bik’s Picks A daily digest of scientific microbiome papers, by your Microbe Manager Elisabeth Bik, laboratory of David Relman, Stanford University – Twitter: @microbiomdigest)
運を3つに分ける考え方はしっくりきました。宝くじに当たったり、交通事故にあったり、病気になったりするのは「天運」であり、自分にはどうしようもないことなので、それよりも「人運」を上げることを心がけたほうがいいのでしょう。地運というのは、よく言う”in the right place at the right time”でしょうか。
le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés ー Louis Pasteur (引用元:ウィキペディア)
chance favors only prepared minds (グーグル翻訳)
幸運は、準備していた者にしか訪れない ー ルイ・パスツール
It was a matter of good luck to have been in the right place at the right time, trying to do the right thing, first alone, and then with the right students and collaborators. (クルト・ヴュートリッヒ 2002年ノーベル化学賞受賞 peerj.com)
Everybody in science works very, very hard, and everyone makes important contributions, and you’ve got to be lucky to make a contribution that also has a medical or clinical impact.
In some sense that’s the skill of choosing, and in another sense that’s the luck of being at the right place at the right time. I’ve always felt that I’ve been at the right place at the right time. (Arnold Levine がん抑制遺伝子p53の発見者 rockefeller.edu)
「今の研究テーマをデータベースで検索したら、ほとんどヒットしませんでした」と不安そうに訴えてくることも。ほとんどジョークのような話なのですが、本人は至って真剣。先人達が切り開いた道をなぞるのが「勉強」で、新しい道を切り開くのが「研究」だと言ってもすぐにはピンときてくれない。(【特別鼎談】博士後期課程から社会へ -三者の歩んだ奇跡ー Part 2 博士の選択)
実際にアカデミアで成功する人は”下克上を生き残る戦国武将” or ”金儲けの達人”といった過酷な競争を生き残れる能力者です。つまり、どこに研究の種があり、どのタイミングで飛びつくかを虎視眈々と狙っている感じ。…この才能には学歴はほとんど関係ありません。例えば、成功した起業家に学歴を問うのはナンセンスなのと同じです。(研究者としての適性 ぽろっ all or something)
The seeker after the truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration, and not to the sayings of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency. (イブン・アル=ハイサム, 965-1040. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alhazen)
強い意思を持って困難に当たるというような力の入ったことでは、遅かれ早かれいずれ力尽きる。むしろ、なによりも研究が好きで、客観的には大変な困難な道を歩いているように見えても、本人はそれを困難だと感じないというぐらいでなければ続かない。(研究者になるには Taka Matsubara, Nagoya Univ.)
そして自分が好きなこと(それに伴うつらいことが苦にならないくらい好きなこと)を見つけられれば、その結果成功しなくても気にならないし、でも、好きなのでどんどん努力するため成功の確率は上がると思います。(“Don’t be trapped by dogma”〜人生とは、生きる価値とは〜 山下 由起子 University of Michigan 全世界日本人研究者ネットワーク 留学体験記)
The Harvard Business Review recently published the results of a workplace survey on loneliness, and research scientists and engineers topped the list of most lonely employees (falling only behind lawyers as the loneliest profession). (biospace.com)
私も、ラボで誰かに会うことも話すこともなく1日が過ぎるような日々を送りました。
I, too, have spent entire days in lab without seeing or talking to a single person. (Lab loneliness: Coping with science research isolation MARCH 21, 2017 BY MELISSA GALINATO QUARTZY)
The entire educational and career structure is very centered on individual achievement. You don’t get a doctorate for a group effort; it represents an individual’s unique contribution to the scientific discipline. (20 May 2010 Are scientists lonely?)
“Let’s stop admiring them. … If you admire them, you can’t surpass them. We came here to surpass them, to reach the top. For one day, let’s throw away our admiration for them and just think about winning.” https://t.co/Y12PQ6EBHL
Reaching for the Stars, Across 4.37 Light-Years (New York Times, By DENNIS OVERBYE APRIL 12, 2016) :”Can you fly an iPhone to the stars? In an attempt to leapfrog the planets and vault into the interstellar age, a bevy of scientists and other luminaries from Silicon Valley and beyond, led by Yuri Milner, a Russian philanthropist and Internet entrepreneur, announced a plan on Tuesday to send a fleet of robot spacecraft no bigger than iPhones to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, 4.37 light-years away. If it all worked out — a cosmically big “if” that would occur decades and perhaps $10 billion from now — a rocket would deliver a “mother ship” carrying a thousand or so small probes to space. Once in orbit, the probes would unfold thin sails and then, propelled by powerful laser beams from Earth, set off one by one like a flock of migrating butterflies across the universe.”
Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking’s Breakthrough Starshot targets Alpha Centauri $128M initiative will seek Earth-like planet 40 trillion kilometres away (Thomson Reuters Posted: Apr 12, 2016 1:28 PM ET):”Billionaire internet investor Yuri Milner announced another $128 million ($100 million US) initiative on Tuesday to better understand the cosmos, this time by deploying thousands of tiny spacecraft to travel to our nearest neighboring star system and send back pictures. If successful, scientists could determine if Alpha Centauri, a star system about 40 trillion kilometres (25 trillion miles) away, contains an Earth-like planet capable of sustaining life.”
As a graduate student, it is wise for the principal investigator (PI) to choose the initial project, or at least play a major part in choosing the project. You simply don’t have the experience and judgment at this point to choose an interesting project with a significant chance of success. At a postdoctoral level, the decision is more conditional. If you are continuing in the field of your Ph.D. studies, you should be capable of choosing a good project. If it is a new field, however, your advisor will need to provide guidance as to what is feasible and interesting.
(How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part II: making discoveries. Jonathan W. Yewdell Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2009 Jun 1)
Choose a question that breaks new conceptural ground. Try to seek the answer to an open question, not merely to fill in some missing data in the literature. I frequently see papers where the rationale given by the authors for doing the research is that something “is not fully understood,” or that some fact is “not known.” (Stephen G. Lisberger, From Science to Citation)
Pavlov’s laboratory best illustrates the replication and extension approach. As a new student, you would have replicated the last dissertation conducted there. This tested your ability to follow a write-up, and motivated Pavlov’s senior students to work most carefully. Your dissertation would have been some logical extension of this preliminary work. You neither had to to survey the entire research literature nor wonder if the equipment could be constructed. The work had just been completed in your laboratory. Consequently, the duration and other costs of new research could be estimated well. (An Insider’s Guide to Choosing a Graduate Adviser and Research Projects in Laboratory Sciences by Marshall Lev Dermer)
日本では我慢とか忍耐の重要性が強調されますが、我慢して何かをしてもそれは良い人生にはつながらないと思います。我慢しなければ一生懸命実験できないよ うなら、それは単に自分が研究には向いてないという事だと思います。夜遅くまで実験するのは「楽しいから」であって、「いつかはこんなつらい状況を抜け出すため」ではありません。… そして自分が好きな こと(それに伴うつらいことが苦にならないくらい好きなこと)を見つけられれば、その結果成功しなくても気にならないし、でも、好きなのでどんどん努力するため成功の確率は上がると思います。(“Don’t be trapped by dogma”〜人生とは、生きる価値とは〜 山下 由起子 Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan / 全世界日本人研究者ネットワーク 留学体験記)
Make sure that you are genuinely interested in the question you choose so that it will continue to intrigue you through a period of several years. (Stephen G. Lisberger, From Science to Citation)
you need to “pick a problem that interests you. You will be living with it for a long time. Make sure it is something you will want to wrestle with even when the going gets rough. It has to make you want to get up early, work late, come in on the weekend, and think about it in the shower.” (How to choose a fruitful research project: advice from graduate students. Lee-Anne Huber, Alexandra Guselle.SURG;Studies by Undergraduate Researchers at Guelph Vol4,No1 (2010))
The thing that differentiates scientists is purely an artistic ability to discern what is a good idea, what is a beautiful idea, what is worth spending time on, and most importantly, what is a problem that is sufficiently interesting, yet sufficiently difficult, that it hasn’t yet been solved, but the time for solving it has come now. (Professor Savas Dimopoulos, a particle physicist at Stanford University)(引用元)
About 95 percent of the time, being able to move a person to your side of an issue comes down to how you make him (or help him) feel about himself. (Bob Burg, Adversaries into Allies)
Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on. (Aesop, The Wind and the Sun)
You ought to profit from the experience of others in the lab. It is prudent to work on a topic in which your advisor is an expert so that s/he can help you solve problems. (Stephen G. Lisberger, From Science to Citation)
Drew Houston’s Commencement address (MIT News June 7, 2013):”I was going to say work on what you love, but that’s not really it. It’s so easy to convince yourself that you love what you’re doing — who wants to admit that they don’t? When I think about it, the happiest and most successful people I know don’t just love what they do, they’re obsessed with solving an important problem, something that matters to them. They remind me of a dog chasing a tennis ball: their eyes go a little crazy, the leash snaps and they go bounding off, plowing through whatever gets in the way.”