一些科学明星并未真正挣到他们的地位与荣誉，却不断赢得大量的研究经费。更滑稽的是，这些明星会向他吹嘘，他（她）们几乎从不向Nature，Cell，或者
Science
之外的期刊投稿，而且几乎总能在CNS这三大发表。可是，你只要看看，就知道，在你自己熟知的领域，这些文章并不总是那么好。
原来吐槽体制并非国人专用！从科研经费到学术出版到千年博后，请听2017新科诺奖 Jeffrey Hall 的 犀利点评。
前两天，美国 Brandeis 大学退休教授 Jeffrey Hall 因阐明生物钟的工作机理，与Michael Young和
Michael Roshbash 分享了2017年诺贝尔生理学奖，一时荣耀加身。Hall
是在缅因州乡下家里得知这一消息的，距离他因为经费短缺而被迫关闭实验室，已经十年。接到诺贝尔奖电话的时候，Hall 说，“You've
reached me where I've lived for many years in the middle of
nowhere, Maine, rural Maine.”
接受记者采访的时候， Hall 说，这个诺贝尔奖完全出乎意料，特别是对于一个脱离生物学基础研究已经十年的人而言。
一位未来的诺贝尔奖得主，早在2003年就当选美国国家科学院院士的大科学家，因为钱的问题，不得不离开他心爱的科学事业！
恐怕这种事情只有在美国才会发生 -- 诺奖实在太多了。
从上世纪80年代开始，Hall
一直致力于研究生物钟的奥秘，几乎倾注了他一半的职业生涯心血。可是10年前，他终止科学研究的时候，心里并不痛快。2008年 Hall
接受 Current Biology
的采访，大力抨击了当时的科研经费申请和科学出版偏见。十年后的今天，这些批评依然一针见血。而从一个拥有诺奖光环的”失败者“嘴里听到，感觉更是讽刺。
Hall
抱怨一些大科学明星并未真正挣到他们的地位与荣誉，却不断赢得大量的研究经费。更滑稽的是，这些明星时不时会向他吹嘘，他（她）们几乎从不向Nature，Cell，或者
Science
之外的期刊投稿，而且几乎总能在CNS这三大发表。可是，你只要看看，就知道，在你自己熟知的领域，这些文章并不总是那么好：
I can't help feel that some of these ‘stars’ have not really
earned their status. I wonder whether certain such anointees are
‘famous because they're famous.’ So what? Here's what: they receive
massive amounts of support for their research, absorbing funds that
might be better used by others. As an example, one would-be star
boasted to me that he'd never send a paper from his lab to anywhere
but Nature, Cell, or Science. These submissions always get a foot
in the door, at least. And they are nearly always published in one
of those magazines — where, when you see something you know about,
you realize that it's not always so great.
Hall
进一步批评这些明星雇佣大量劳力从事研究工作，却不能给予实质的指导。而那些真正在第一线做研究的，则面临巨大压力，需要不断提供吸引眼球的成果去明星期刊发表。结果可想而知：
Celebrity ‘PI's,’ ... have too much in the way of lavished
resources ... They can and do hire very large numbers of workers,
but it is at-best difficult closely to interact with and properly
to supervise these bloated numbers of personnel. Such Actual
Investigators (AIs) cannot easily gain their boss's attention; and
the latter is unable to provide the required close, ongoing
scrutiny of their research. There is huge pressure on the
overworked, anxious AI to bring something ‘great’ to the boss, who
wants everything to go to a vanity journal. One outcome of these
antics is that some bizarre stuff is salted throughout this overly
conspicuous subset of the literature.
实际上，在接到诺贝尔奖电话的时候，Hall 也谈到了这些一线科研工作者：“what I call AIs -actual
investigators - like students, post-doctoral supervisees, from the
two labs working very closely together, even day by day. So that
was enjoyable."
记者问到，你是不是过于骄傲而不耻于此，才退休的呢？ Hall
给出了最严厉的回应，我依然热爱我的这些小果蝇们，仍然能富有成效的与她们交流。因而，我承认，我痛恨自己研究经费用光了：
Yes and yes. I admit that I resent running out of research
money…recent applications from our lab have had their lungs ripped
out, often accompanied by sneering, personal denunciations—perhaps
reflecting the fact that this old-timer has lost his touch. But I
still love the little flies and claim that my colleagues and I
could continue to interact with them productively.
Hall
接着抱怨，在他那个时代，找到一份教职，并不需要博后文章。而如今，人们需要经过长时间的博后培训，也就是中国人所说的“千老”，累计大量的资本，才能找到一份工作。今天，一个成功的教职申请者，简历看起来就和他那个时代一个正教授一样！更要命的是，这些新晋者得到大量的启动经费建设实验室，但从此以后，要持续研究，一个子也难以从学校拿到！
在 Hall 眼里，美国乃至世界各地的大学，表现起来就是他们得到教授们的研究经费是天经地义的：去搞项目；
如果不能快速拉来钱，麻烦就在后面等着你；
如果经费不能持续，就算产出再好，也可以卷铺盖回家了。可是，如今搞研究的学校和人这么多，粥少僧多，项目申请书再好，也未必能得到资助。
当然，如今 Hall 已经离开学术，在缅因乡下享受生活。他说这些东西，并不再是为了他自己，而是下一代的青年学者们：
Having said all this, I acknowledge that “I got mine” from the
government over the course of many years. Thus, as I say so long,”
one component of my last-gasp disquiet stems from pompously
worrying about biologists who are starting out or are in
mid-career.
不过 Hall 也非常清楚的说了，I still love the little flies and claim that my
colleagues and I could continue to interact with them productively.
中国各地都在大力建设诺奖实验室，诺奖研究院，诺奖孵化区，经费都是亿级的。有兴趣的，不妨联系 Jeffrey Hall 教授
hall@brandeis.edu，也许我们又能引进一个诺奖科学家了。
但是我们也不妨想想，Hall 的批评和经历，对于中国学术界而言，是不是也有一些启迪呢？
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