Science in the age of Covid

 Hi,

Apologies because I have not updated this blog in quite a while.   I'm healthy, but Covid has brought many changes to my work life, and almost everything takes longer.    

Covid has had an enormous effect on scientists, and a somewhat lesser but still very sizable effect on science.  I am one of the fairly large fraction of physicists who mostly work on a computer.  So, I am able to work at home, and I do so.  There is a significant hit to productivity because I can no longer walk next door and talk to my colleagues - everything requires an appointment and a zoom call. 

Laboratory science has taken a much larger hit.  Lawrence Berkeley Lab, like most other research institutions, was almost entirely shut down for about six months, so all laboratory work stopped.  Now, we are slowly and carefully ramping up lab work, with a whole host of anti-Covid precautions, about physical separation, etc.   Of course, Covid-related work has become very high priority.  At LBNL, this includes using the Advanced Light Source (it produces intense beams of X-rays) to study the structure of important proteins, using the NERSC supercomputers to study protein-Covid interactions, and, of course, much biological research. 

Polar science has been affected even more.  There is a strong determination to keep Covid out of Antarctica.  To do so, the U. S. polar program has slashed the number of people who are going there this coming Astral summer.   The only activities that are supported are those that keep the U. S. stations running, and prevent damage to scientific infrastructure.   For IceCube, we will be able to swap winter-overs as the Pole, but not much more.   The usual transportation, using Air Force and NY Air National Guard LC-130 transports will not occur; instead there will be a small number of flights on Baslers (shown above, they are much upgraded DC-3s with turboprop engines), with very limited passenger space, and even more limited cargo transport.  

Everyone going to Antarctica will spend time quarantining in both the U. S. and New Zealand.  Even this has been tough - New Zealand is essentially closed to visitors, so special arrangements were required to allow polar program personnel in.   Fortunately, IceCube is running well, so the main effect is to put off some planned software upgrades, plus the surface deployment of new prototype air shower detectors.

For younger scientists without career positions,, the effects of Covid are especially drastic.  Colleges and universities are in dire straits financially, and have consequently cut faculty hiring.  One estimate I saw was that the number of advertised faculty positions is down by 70%.    This is a huge cut, especially for people who were positioning themselves to apply for jobs this year.  The situation in industry is better, but it is still not as good as last year.    Overall, physicists are probably no worse off than most other professions, but young people have a limited time window to apply for faculty positions, and budget limitations will create a squeeze that will likely last for several years.