Gas $4.00 a gallon

[Grenadier]

The $4 / gallon figure is probably going to be localized to areas that are traditionally higher on a regular basis, such as California, etc. The rest of the nation will probably see $3.30 - $3.50, as long as the oil refinery status doesn't change.

the conditions of our own funding require us to share information and resources with each other. Very few scientists can be successful without collaboration.

As another scientist, I'd have to agree.

These days, it is getting even more difficult to get a R01 grant proposal funded, and the cutoff number for such grants has been getting smaller and smaller, to the point where "guaranteed funding" scores from just 7-8 years ago, are now in that "unfundable" scoring range.

In order to get those really nice scores that are in today's "guaranteed funding" range, you have to put forth one heck of an effort in your grants. This generally means that you need as much help as you can get from your fellow researchers.

Now, there may be some people out there who scoff at the idea of collaboration, asserting that "if you don't get your own grants, all by yourself, then you're not any good," but those folks have either kept themselves isolated, already have plenty of stable funding, or are in the process of dying out. Collaboration is a *good* thing, and it's amazing what two different minds can do, compared to one, since sometimes, all it takes is a fresh view on things.

 

[newGuy12]

I was taught that collaboration is the essence of the difference between majic (the old ways) and science (the new ways). The al-chemist is a secret person, who does not publish what he knows. The scientist, though, will publish EXACTLY how to run the experiment. Anyone, anywhere in the would should be able to run the same experiment and get results that are similar.

I went to a school once that had some kind of honor society for science students. The literature for that group made quite a point of saying that they were NOT a secret society, in any way -- that that is not the way of science, ever, and that they were not a group of magicians, but of scientists.

Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor! hahahahaha!