We’re All in this Bus Together

Editorial We're All in this Bus Together The conference day has officially gone into overtime—after all the talks, posters, dinner, and drinks, we're now headed back to our hotels in the city, a half-hour's drive down the mountain-side. I'm a few rows back from the front of the bus, and it's crowded-baron a -Friday-night loud and just as energized. Over the noise, I catch only enough of my seatmate's question to strike up a conversation about the best talks of the day. As we chat, the bits and pieces of the other conversations around us mix and mingle with our own thoughts. Across the way, two post-docs are swapping stories about dealing with the two-body problem in their job searches. It's nice to see they've dropped their initial wariness from having learned earlier in the day that they share similar unpublished results. A row ahead, an emeritus professor recounts setting up his first lab in the early 70s. From the glimpses I get of the junior faculty sitting next him, the story is a funny one and I wonder what parts remind her of her own recent experience. A sharp turn in the road knocks off-balance a third-year grad student standing in the aisle. She is saved from falling by her labmate and the surprisingly quick reflexes of a National Academy member standing beside her. Without missing a beat, she continues to describe a malfunctioning microfluidic device that is slowing the revision of her first paper. Behind me, a PI is attempting to maintain a strictly scientific discussion: ''There's so much redundancy with these receptors .'' A brief pause, followed by the clicking sound of a laptop opening, ''It's easier to just show you.'' Still others are discussing grant success rates or a recent fishing trip or have slipped into their native tongues, making me wish I knew Chinese or Turkish or what I'm guessing is Croatian, as they share personal stories and scientific inspirations that I hope I'll have the chance to hear more about during the next days of the meeting. After a few more minutes chatting with my fellow passenger— having now moved on to the topic of co-authorship issues—the conversation comes to a natural pause. I glance out the window, seeing the last of the trees and fields before we arrive at the streets of the city. The noise of the bus and the thoughts in …