In the Associated Press recently, two female winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine are calling for more flexibility in scientific communities.
The recipients, Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider, said as many women as men start out in science, but the women are often unable to advance after having children because of a lack of flexibility:
Blackburn said a more flexible approach to part-time research and career breaks would help women continue to advance their careers during their childbearing years.
“I’m not talking about doing second-rate quality science, far from it,” she said. “You can do really good research when you are doing it part-time.”
I’m reminded of an episode from CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. Two physicists prepare themselves to buckle down and crack a scientific puzzle. Then for the next few scenes—days in the TV characters’ time—we watch them sit down and simply…think.
Which further reminds me of brain research presented by Dr. John Medina in his fabulous hit book Brain Rules. As he explains it, the brain needs time for rest. Problems may be subconsciously solved during sleep periods when the brain continues to puzzle away at a issue. (Even NASA recognizes the scientific benefit of naps.)
Life Meets Work founder Kyra Cavanaugh has said much the same thing (see our piece on Unplugging on Vacation):
“When we step away from our work, it gives us an opportunity to reframe problems, to think about how to overcome obstacles, to do some reading on a particular business topic, [and] to have conversations with other people,” Cavanaugh said. “If we can pull ourselves away, it’s not that we’re not working, it’s that we’re working on the business in a different way.”
Anyone who works in a creative field knows that you can’t crank out innovation 8 hours a days. The best work happens when you’ve had time to walk away, and get a clear head.
Seems to me like the scientific cause might even be advanced if everyone took a little more time off.