Scientists are a persistent group. We all have the experience of doing experiments that refuse to work as planned, or favoring a hypothesis that seems contradicted by the latest data. If we accepted such setbacks, success would be rare, indeed. We frequently see frustration as a challenge and an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of our intuition. The harder we fight the battle, the sweeter the ensuing victory.
Of course we are not always victorious, and our challenges are not restricted to the next experiment. As scientists, we frequently pursue grants, jobs, and career choices using the same approach we use in research: We hypothesize that we are wanted for a certain position and then experimentally test that idea by submitting an application. Just as in the case with our experiments (or my experiments, at least), the results rarely support the original hypothesis.
Here, again, scientists are persistent: I have ...
