Worst Jobs in Science: Year Three 220
mmoyer writes "Popular Science just published their annual rankings of the worst jobs in science. Highlights of this year's list include a human lab rat, orangutan pee collector, and, surprisingly, a NASA ballerina. Think your science job belongs on the list? You can nominate your job as well. Slashdot also covered the worst jobs in science in 2004 and in 2003."
Worst Science Job, EVER (Score:5, Funny)
6. Volcanologist When the earth heats up, they head in
Volcanologist? Can't take the heat, get out of the crater? Sounds like a dream job, just get my Indiana Jones get-up on and grow a good 5 o'clock shadow and the babes will be swarming like deerflies! w00. "Danger is my middle name. Unfortunately my first name is Melvin and my last name is Blortman."
3. Kansas Biology Teacher On the front lines of science's devolution
*snort* This has initiated so many flame-wars on USENET lately, yeah, that's gotta suck having to face extremists and dum-dum board members. The irony is 'Intelligent Design' is an Evolution of Creationism :)
2. Manure Inspector The smell is just the start of the nastiness
Reminds me of Farley Mowat in his cabin in Never Cry Wolf. All those wolf turds and then the water came in...
1. Human Lab Rat Must read slashdot for research lab. aaiiiieeeee!!!
Re:Worst Science Job, EVER (Score:3, Insightful)
*snort* This has initiated so many flame-wars on USENET lately, yeah, that's gotta suck having to face extremists and dum-dum board members. The irony is 'Intelligent Design' is an Evolution of Creationism
What ever happened to the good ol' days when a teacher was apethic towards their job? They just went in, did whatever the board told 'em to, and used the Nuremberg defence to ease any ethical issues. Or was that prozac?
I want to ret
Re:Worst Science Job, EVER (Score:2)
This could be a great job for the right person. I had a couple science teachers who were really, really, really articulate, and I think they would have done well in this enviornment- they would have seen it as a challenge.
Backwards places nees the best teachers sometimes- because the people there have the most learning to do....
Re:Worst Science Job, EVER (Score:3, Insightful)
Question 1: Identify and describe the method in which humans obtained stereoscopic sight.
a) With binoculars.
b) God, the designer himself.
c) Crazy Theory of Evolution.
d) All of the above.
Question 2: Identify and describe the method in which humans obtained opposable thumbs.
a) Double jointed.
b) God, the designer himself.
c) Crazy Theory of Evolution.
d) None of the above.
Re:The New Kansas Cirriculum (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Worst Science Job, EVER (Score:2, Funny)
here i thought it was all binaries!
Re:Worst Science Job, EVER (Score:2)
How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:5, Interesting)
Ha! Great story.
A few years back, I knew a fellow (he had the unfortunate name of Willie Williams) who'd been involved in the re-introduction of pergrine falcons to the canyon lands of south texas [peregrinefund.org]. The problem was that the birds wouldn't breed in captivity. The answer: artificial insemination.
This dude's job was to collect the sperm from the male falcons. He'd go in to their enclosures wearing a special hat [si.edu] with a very-anatomically-correct model of a female falcon on it.
Re:How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:2, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:2, Insightful)
Ha! There was something like this in the news earlier this year. [thesun.co.uk]
My sister had a job for a while cleaning cages of lab animals. She didn't like it much.
Re:How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:2)
Re:How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:2)
Re:How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:5, Funny)
Anyone would have to be f**ked up in the head to do that...
Re:How About Avian Sex Partner? (Score:2)
Your comment instantly had the 4 people at my office who sit near me pop their heads over the cubes to find out what was so funny. I think we've got 4 new
Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/mpeg/115084ma
Re:Wow (Score:2)
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Warning: not work safe! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah! And the ballerina ain't bad, either!
Re:Wow (Score:3, Funny)
It is quite difficult to believe that the scientist didn't manage to see the problem with t
Re:NASA ballet (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Wow (Score:2, Informative)
can you hear me now? YES!! (Score:5, Funny)
movie url -
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/950 [compfused.com]
Re:can you hear me now? YES!! (Score:2, Informative)
Question for biologists... (Score:3, Insightful)
This is a quote from the "Kansas Biology Teacher" article:
"At the heart of ID is the idea that certain elements of the natural world--the human eye, say--are "irreducibly complex" and have not and cannot be explained by evolutionary theory. Therefore, IDers say, they must be the work of an intelligent designer (that is, God).
The problem for teachers is that ID can't be tested using the scientific method, the system of making, testing and retesting hypotheses that is the bedrock of science."
Now, if someone tells you that the eye cannot be explained through evolutionary mechanisms, do you respond that, well, ID can't be tested through the scientific method, so you're wrong? Because that's exactly what this article makes it sound like. If there's a response to the argument that the eye could not have arisen through the incremental changes posited by evolutionary theory, this article sure doesn't give it.
Is there a response? What incremental, random changes produced an eye such that each step conferred an evolutionary advantage? Or did it happen all at once? Can scientists reconstruct the formation for an eye through an accidental interference with the DNA? And, most importantly, does even asking these questions imply that I'm an anti-science ignorant hick?
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:5, Informative)
Evolution of the Eye:
When evolution skeptics want to attack Darwin's theory, they often point to the human eye. How could something so complex, they argue, have developed through random mutations and natural selection, even over millions of years?
If evolution occurs through gradations, the critics say, how could it have created the separate parts of the eye -- the lens, the retina, the pupil, and so forth -- since none of these structures by themselves would make vision possible? In other words, what good is five percent of an eye?
Darwin acknowledged from the start that the eye would be a difficult case for his new theory to explain. Difficult, but not impossible. Scientists have come up with scenarios through which the first eye-like structure, a light-sensitive pigmented spot on the skin, could have gone through changes and complexities to form the human eye, with its many parts and astounding abilities.
Through natural selection, different types of eyes have emerged in evolutionary history -- and the human eye isn't even the best one, from some standpoints. Because blood vessels run across the surface of the retina instead of beneath it, it's easy for the vessels to proliferate or leak and impair vision. So, the evolution theorists say, the anti-evolution argument that life was created by an "intelligent designer" doesn't hold water: If God or some other omnipotent force was responsible for the human eye, it was something of a botched design.
Bilogists use the range of less complex light sensitive structures that exist in living species today to hypothesize the various evolutionary stages eyes may have gone through.
Here's how some scientists think some eyes may have evolved: The simple light-sensitive spot on the skin of some ancestral creature gave it some tiny survival advantage, perhaps allowing it to evade a predator. Random changes then created a depression in the light-sensitive patch, a deepening pit that made "vision" a little sharper. At the same time, the pit's opening gradually narrowed, so light entered through a small aperture, like a pinhole camera.
Every change had to confer a survival advantage, no matter how slight. Eventually, the light-sensitive spot evolved into a retina, the layer of cells and pigment at the back of the human eye. Over time a lens formed at the front of the eye. It could have arisen as a double-layered transparent tissue containing increasing amounts of liquid that gave it the convex curvature of the human eye.
In fact, eyes corresponding to every stage in this sequence have been found in existing living species. The existence of this range of less complex light-sensitive structures supports scientists' hypotheses about how complex eyes like ours could evolve. The first animals with anything resembling an eye lived about 550 million years ago. And, according to one scientist's calculations, only 364,000 years would have been needed for a camera-like eye to evolve from a light-sensitive patch.
Mod mistake here! (Score:5, Insightful)
This country (US) is drifting more and more away from science and more towards superstition (It's not only the ID folks, there's other equally unscientific view too) and magical thinking. We're headed for trouble economically, culturally, and politically if we don't stop this nonsense.
Re:Mod mistake here! (Score:2)
Re:Mod mistake here! (Score:2, Insightful)
In that book, folks would ask him about "healing crystals" and many other things both religious and "New Age". His response was something to the affect of "...there's no data that supports that belief." I found that response to be respectful to the person asking and at the same time putting forth that idea that maybe they should question their own beliefs. Of course, there's always going to be people who are completely happy relying on faith. I have no problem wi
Re:Mod mistake here! (Score:3, Insightful)
There are creationists here who I think go looking for articles that criticize creationism/ID and rate them Troll. A while back, I wrote a testy but not uninformative article that got the same treatment:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=70547&cid=6407 629 [slashdot.org]
I admit I was kind of pissy when I wrote it, but it wasn't a troll. It had good
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd be careful with this point, because it is not as simple as it first sounds. A change should, but does not have to, confer an advantage. It could be a neutral move, with no selection for or against it. However, these neutral moves could result in the availability of new potential advantages. So, when arguing the point, it is not the thinner openings were greater than the larger openings, but rather they were at least as efficient for
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:3, Informative)
This is a common misconception about evolution. The only thing "necessary" is for the organism displaying the trait to reproduce. Nothing else. The trait can confer absolutely no advantage, and even cause disadvantage, as long as enough organisms with the genes for that trait reproduce. The trait need not even be expressed, as long as a gene that creates it is passed on. (Big example: recessive genes.)
So, to recap, every change did no
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:5, Insightful)
Moderator: We're here today to debate the hot new topic, evolution versus Intelligent Des---
(Scientist pulls out baseball bat.)
Moderator: Hey, what are you doing?
(Scientist breaks Intelligent Design advocate's kneecap.)
Intelligent Design advocate: YEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP!
Scientist: Perhaps it only appears that I broke your kneecap. Certainly, all the evidence points to the hypothesis I broke your kneecap. For example, your kneecap is broken; it appears to be a fresh wound; and I am holding a baseball bat, which is spattered with your blood. However, a mere preponderance of evidence doesn't mean anything. Perhaps your
kneecap was designed that way. Certainly, there are some features of the current situation that are inexplicable according to the "naturalistic" explanation you have just advanced, such as the exact contours of the excruciating pain that you are experiencing right now.
Intelligent Design advocate: AAAAH! THE PAIN!
Scientist: Frankly, I personally find it completely implausible that the random actions of a scientist such as myself could cause pain of this particular kind. I have no precise explanation for why I find this hypothesis implausible --- it just is. Your knee must have been designed that way!
Intelligent Design advocate: YOU BASTARD! YOU KNOW YOU DID IT!
Scientist: I surely do not. How can we know anything for certain? Frankly, I think we should expose people to all points of view. Furthermore, you should really re-examine whether your hypothesis is scientific at all: the breaking of your kneecap happened in the past, so we can't rewind and run it over again, like a laboratory experiment. Even if we could, it wouldn't prove that I broke your kneecap the previous time. Plus, let's not even get into the fact that the entire universe might have just popped into existence right before I said this
sentence, with all the evidence of my alleged kneecap-breaking already pre-formed.
Intelligent Design advocate: That's a load of bullshit sophistry! Get me a doctor and a lawyer, not necessarily in that order, and we'll see how that plays in court!
Scientist (turning to audience): And so we see, ladies and gentlemen, when push comes to shove, advocates of Intelligent Design do not actually believe any of the arguments that they profess to believe. When it comes to matters that hit home, they prefer evidence, the scientific method, testable hypotheses, and naturalistic explanations. In fact, they strongly privilege naturalistic explanations over supernatural hocus-pocus or metaphysical wankery. It is only within the reality-distortion field of their ideological crusade that they give credence to the flimsy, ridiculous arguments which we so commonly see on display. I must confess, it kind of felt good, for once, to be the one spouting free-form bullshit; it's so terribly easy and relaxing, compared to marshaling rigorous arguments backed up by empirical
evidence. But I fear that if I were to continue, then it would be habit-forming, and bad for my soul. Therefore, I bid you adieu.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:5, Informative)
If so, I'd like an example-- because I've never heard of a creature with a deep, light-sensitive pit in its body.
Google search terms: "light-sensitive pit bacteria".y es_part_one_opening_up_the_russian_doll.php [corante.com]
First entry: http://www.corante.com/loom/archives/2005/02/15/e
Next?
Snake Pits (Score:3, Informative)
The example that comes immediately to mind are the heat-sensitive "pits" found on pit-vipers and pythons. They detect infra-red light in almost this exact way.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, so being able to see the shadow of a predator wouldn't be advantageous? Or, inversely, the shadow of prey?
Although, frankly, the more likely explanation is that the organism wasn't trying to avoid a predator, it was trying to increase its energy intake by moving toward the light (or, in the case of a predator, move to an area that's more likely to have prey because of the light). We know cyanobacteria have been around for billions of years and they can do this.
No, just narrower. A disadvantage, like tunnel vision.
Um, no. Being able to refine your visual capabilities is generally an advantage. The previous mutation just said "light/dark". Now you can say "light/dark in THAT direction". You don't think that's an advantage?
Oh, and tunnel vision isn't necessarily a disadvantage. In humans it literally focuses your vision on the threat at hand (and yes, I've had it before). In other animals, such as birds of prey, it's an evolutionary advantage that allows them to concentrate on finding and killing prey.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
also helps with reproduction, when everybody's heading toward the same place... a sort of bacertiological singles bar
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Except that bacteria reproduces by itself... doesn't need a partner.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:3, Interesting)
Only if the predator has a FRICKIN LASER BEAM on its head! Being as most creatures don't come with light-emitting organs as standard equipment, this speculation falls short of an explanation. Maybe there were large populations of electroluminescent bacteria a hojillion years ago.
Iguanas have a rudimentery third eye on the top of their head. It can sense changes to light and not much else. It's also known as parietal eye [greenigsociety.org]. This is pretty basic stuff. Didn't you pay at
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Being as most creatures don't come with light-emitting organs as standard equipment, this speculation falls short of an explanation. Maybe there were large populations of electroluminescent bacteria a hojillion years ago.
Hmmm, a predator swims by overhead temporarily blocking the light of the sun, some creatures with a basic light sensor learn to dive when this happens. It makes sense to me. Even really basic sight is better than no sight.
No, just narrower. A disadvantage, like tunnel vision.
Well,
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2, Informative)
Eh? I'm assuming you studied physics in Kansas too. Here's a simplified version of how it works:
See? That wasn't so har
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:3, Interesting)
Don't know about light sensisive, but pit vipers have heat sensitive pits. (Heat being another form of electromagnetic energy...) These pits tell the snake about direction and intensity of a heat source.
Re:Awesome... (Score:3, Funny)
They server to break up the monotony of the mail chest.
Re:Awesome... (Score:2)
While on the topic of vestigial: male nipples. No known use.
They server to break up the monotony of the mail chest.
I never noticed nipples on my mail box, but to each their own...
Re:Awesome... (Score:2)
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2, Informative)
Behe's arguments are a failure of imagination. He can't imagine how something could come to be, so he says that it's impossible. Then later, we figure out that it was possible, and Behe was wrong.
The latest example is Behe's flagellum motor. Turns out that a very slightly different protein
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2, Insightful)
The fact that you cannot prove something, does not make another thing you cannot prove true.
Evolution deals more in generalities, it is postulated that humans evolved through a series of events because genetics and bones etc... help us come to that conclusion.
How evolution created the eye, or even a cell for that matter, is still a part of the mystery, and if someone could make an example cell from parts then that would
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:5, Informative)
It's well understood; the progression is roughly: light sensitive cell, opaque pigment in back, retreat into concavity, formation of pinhole camera, transparent covering, fixed lens, adaptable lens. Each of those has distinct and individual evolutionary advantages, sometimes related to improved predator evasion and sometimes merely related to improved protection of the existing structure. It seems to have happened several times in evolution, so it's not even anything unusual; if we ever encounter aliens, they probably have eyes, too.
The problem for teachers is that ID can't be tested using the scientific method, the system of making, testing and retesting hypotheses that is the bedrock of science.
That's false. ID can be tested (in the same way astronomy can be), and the answer is: there is not a shred of evidence to support ID. Every single test of evolution has come down on the side of evolution (mutation and selection) and against intelligent design (interference of an intelligent agent in the development of different life forms on earth). ID has the form of a scientific theory, but it happens to be an incorrect scientific theory according to overwhelming evidence.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Huh? Telescopes searching for God? Please explain what you mean.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Really? OK. Give me the definition of intelligence upon which you could build such tests. And, remember, your community of researchers all must agree on this defition.
I mean, if you're going to test the predictions of ID, you have to know the nature of intelligence, right?
And, I haven't even asked about "Design" yet...
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
No, you don't always need a precise definition in order to demonstrate that something is not intelligent. We don't have any trouble, for example, agreeing that a piece of rock salt isn't intelligent. You need precise definitions only in the borderline cases, but the mechanisms that evidently produce biological diversity are so far removed from intelligence that there is no question.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Look, by saying "I know it's wrong" you're playing right into the hands of ID proponents. You're falling for their game. Don't.
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
On the other hand, all the evidence has refuted creationism. Simply removing the word "god" and then trying to
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Then apparently there is a problem with the Big Bang Theory as well because it can't explain where all the matter in the universe came from let alone how the actual bang itself started.
So I guess by your measure God did create the Big Bang.
Theories do not have to explain every nuance of an event. They only have to make enough testable predictions to cover most of the bases. No one has ever said th
Re:Question for biologists... (Score:2)
Your idea, while interesting, doesn't answer the question, as you admitted to. All you are testing for is a persons chemical state when they believe there is a god compared to if they don't believe. After all, that is what happiness is. A chemical state. One could be just as happy not believing as believing and your test would be just as valid.
As far as why
Incompatible? (Score:2)
Maybe eyes HAVEN'T evolved multiple times (Score:2, Interesting)
This guy agrees [uk.com], claiming that the light-sensitive patch genes are pretty conserved.
However, this crowd [karger.com] seems to think that al
Hold on a second... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hold on a second... (Score:2)
Here's one. (Score:2, Funny)
Misquote me thinks (Score:5, Funny)
I would have thought the emphasis would have been on laid
Re:Misquote me thinks (Score:2)
No, no, it was a double-blind study... Everyone knows that it's not getting laid that makes you go blind.
I myself participated in the follow-up, which was a double-hairy palm study.
i am a NASA ballerina! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:i am a NASA ballerina! (Score:2)
mosquito food (Score:2)
Re:mosquito food (Score:2)
Like this [acs.org] person?
I can imagine (Score:2)
Earlier this year the mosquito season started early and they didnt have the budget to begin spraying so they just let people tough it out until it got enough press to actually have to take action. I was getting bit three times a day just on the way to the car which is about 7 ft from my front door to the car space in fron
Re:mosquito food (Score:2)
You don't need the human victims to take pictures like this [macro-photo.org]
declared troll -- little bill gates (Score:2, Funny)
Q: Name the worst jobs in science ?
Little Bill: Steve Jobs ?!
</Troll>
What no "Grad Student?" (Score:5, Insightful)
I just want recognition for something! I will have to be happy with getting my Phd if I can't get on the crappiest job list.
true story (Score:5, Interesting)
Digtal Stimulation Jobs (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Digtal Stimulation Jobs (Score:2)
Re:Digtal Stimulation Jobs (Score:2)
So, were you thinking about your sig at all when you posted that last comment? :D
Re:true story (Score:2)
Re:true story (Score:2)
Daily grind (Score:2)
I spent a full year as a PhD student doing basically nothing but grinding up and heating mixtures of various metal oxide powders to make fuel cell components. That has got to be the most boring job ever. The lab didn't even have a window to look out of.
collector of waste water (Score:2, Informative)
Outright sewage collector (Score:2)
I had a job collecting samples from the inflows of sewage treatment plants. Drive around to six obsolete, decrepit plants, swapping out the collectors in the automated samplers (How many will have overflowed today?) Take them all back to the shiny new plant that will get all the sewage after you're done. Mix the samples in exacting proportions, and decant into various containers. (This will involve spilling; skin contact considered very bad) Pack them up in a
Continental Drift? (Score:3, Interesting)
Radiocarbon dating and fossils, I suppose they thought it contradicted the bible. Continental Drift? Who would dispute that?
Re:Continental Drift? (Score:5, Insightful)
Continental drift, after all, presupposes a time line about four orders of magnitude greater than that of young earth "theory." Hence, if you believe continental drift, you have a very hard time simultaneously buying into young earth.
Re:Continental Drift? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Continental Drift? (Score:2)
Tides go against that too. I guess there's limits to what they can deny? Or perhaps that one of gods miracles, pushing the unbeliever into the sea?
Re:Continental Drift? (Score:2)
People that live here [usgs.gov].
Re:Continental Drift? (Score:2)
Now, I'm playing devil's advocate here, I'm a science nerd and would really like all these IDers to just shut the hell up. But anywho, to their point, I also have never seen a virus, nor Pluto,
Re:Continental Drift? (Score:2)
Probably not a ballerina (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, that's not a bad dance job. Pay, benefits, reasonable hours. Ask any working dancer. It's a tough life, and you burn out young. At the higher levels, the injury rate is very high. New York City Ballet used to have the highest workmens's compensation premium in the state.
The "robot touch avoidance" demo has been done before, several times, both with mechanical switches and a short-range microwave system. The IR distance measurement system came from a Stanford project in the 1970s.
Peh, this is the REAL worst science job! (Score:4, Funny)
another bad science job (Score:2)
You do get some stories (Score:2, Funny)
"The hardest part is explaining it to friends," Schillinger says. "But we do have stories." Like what? "Like the donor who was in the room for the longest time. We had a big discussion about who was going to check on him. Turns out he thought he had to fill up the entire specimen cup."
Oh I want him to father my kids!!!!!!
Dolphin semen collector (Score:2, Funny)
As it turns out, dolphins are quick learners, and he quickly became *very* popular with the male dolphins. Any time he would show up at the dolphin tanks, the dolphins would immediately begin splashing around and chattering with excitement!
So next time you go to Sea World and take in a dolphin show, don't assume that the dolphins are pe
Maybe network admin for a site being /.ed (Score:2)
Pop. science's holding up !
Re:Does programmer count? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Does programmer count? (Score:2)
Secretary: "Sir, The political science majors from the local university are here and have waited the mandatory hour. Shall I send them in?"
Politician: "Give me two minutes for my aide to leave by the back door and to zip up my pants."
As the students enter, Politician: standard politician greeting meaning absolutely nothing.
Prof: "Thanks for agreeing to meet us. It will help my students learn so much. They will set up everything and then we will begin."
Politician: "What are all those things?"
Re:Quality Assurance (Score:2, Interesting)
Additionally, if you don't have the say to fail a release that has critical and known errors, it is time to find a job with a company that actually knows what they are doing.