Loneliness is often encountered in science. While there may be some cultural aspects of how to do science in a specific environment, many postdocs and PIs, and sometimes graduate students, often report feeling scientific loneliness. As if they are the only one invested in their own careers (maybe they are?).
While some scientists view themselves as "eagles", a predatory lone bird, work in science is collaborative. Even if a PI sees themselves as independent, they are still working with students and postdocs, making science, at all of its stages, a group effort, and therefore I believe the eagle analogy does not fit.
I believe loneliness is detrimental to science. There is nothing more exciting, fulfilling and productive than having a brain storming session with a friend, colleague, mentor, or mentee. All of these can be productive, albeit sometimes in different ways, in making us think in a new direction, or learning about an aspect we are not an expert in, but the other person is.
I have learned a lot from all of these interactions, and personally, I find them as one of the most fun parts of science. A long conversation (in these COVID pandemic times over Zoom) I recently had with two friends (and former-colleagues) about my research has fueled my energy, excitement, and enthusiasm, alongside providing critical feedback on what I have done so far and some cool and different ideas of how to move forward. And still, in many environments people are, reluctantly and usually involuntarily, lonely.
In order to tackle this issue, I want to suggest The Starlings Method. Starlings are small birds that, as a collection fly together as a flock, in a beautiful and highly-coordianted, harmonized, phenomenon. This behavior is termed murmuration. They do this for several reasons (1) Confuse predators (2) Exchange information, a strategy for survival (3) Keeping together for physical warmth.
Many times in science, it feels like we're flying.
We enjoy the fresh air, and the excitement of freedom and unknown horizons, but we also may fear from losing our ability to fly, as we may crash to the ground. And if that wasn't enough, we may encounter predatory birds that will risk our flying ability. Researchers have found that starlings only pay attention to their seven closest neighbors, making them more resistant to noise and perturbations from the environment. I propose a method where each scientist defines a network of 7 individuals that comprise their "flock". Ultimately, the flock would consists of individuals from all stages - scientists who are more senior than your current positions (e.g. your PI or an experienced faculty member), colleagues and friends at a similar career stage, and mentees that you work with. Even if you do not feel alone in science, I think that mapping an interaction network, and keeping a regular interaction with each of the members, will benefit your scientific progress and well-being.
One question that may arise from this comparison, is whether we indeed aim, as scientists, to behave as a flock - as this has a negative connotation of making minute progress and non-innovative, breakthrough, science. We may think we want to be that bird that goes out of flock and discovers a new piece of a land (e.g. eagles travel alone), that would otherwise remain unknown. But perhaps instead of viewing it as breaking out of the pack, we can view this as trying to change the flight direction of the entire starlings flock, consisting of hundreds of birds. When we try to uncover the mysteries of life, we don't only try to make the discoveries ourselves, but rather benefit from other people being convinced that this new direction is worth exploring.
So let's learn from Starlings. Let's fly together, exchange information between us, confuse those who exhibit predatory behavior in science, and keep each other warm.
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” Helen Keller.
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