Macromolecular crowding

Although you were born and educated in the USA, you've worked in the UK for over 11 years. What are your views on the different ways science is done in the two countries? I've probably been away from the States too long to judge! One thing that does stand out, however, is the difference in postgraduate (PhD) education and training. Most students in the UK get funding for a three-year PhD after a three-year undergraduate degree (four years undergraduate in Scotland). This can't provide the same degree of training as occurs in the USA or in those European countries where a Diploma (equivalent of a Master's degree) is a prerequisite to entry into a PhD program. One consequence of this is that too many British PhDs end up not pursuing a productive science career, because they can make a slow start, and everything is rushed at the end. Part of the problem is money, but even with limited resources, there are opportunities for improvement. For example, the same amount of money could be used to train fewer, more carefully selected students, for longer periods of time — certainly longer than the canonical three years! A step in the right direction is that many of the UK Research Councils, which fund the majority of PhDs, are giving universities more autonomy in how they spend the money dedicated to studentships, so a wholesale restructuring of the PhD experience could in theory begin at a more local level. Also, in the States it is common practice for recent graduates to work for a year or so in a lab, not only to gain experience but also to think about what they really want to do scientifically, without the competing pressure of finishing coursework. That is less easy to do in the UK, because there aren't that many short-term positions available, and those that are available may be incredibly dull. The UK Research Councils could establish a program in which highly qualified students apply to work in a lab of their choice for a year. This could be done relatively cheaply if there was only a modest stipend and no academic fees to pay (for example, if they didn't actually register for a degree). Any advice for the students, then? If you don't think that what you're doing is the most interesting thing in the world, you should probably be doing something else, as …