Yale death: students ‘nocturnal’ due to work load

In the strange and often lonely world of the graduate science student it is often common practice to be working late and alone.

While I was a PhD student I was often required, by the nocturnal habits of the little brown moths I studied, to work through the night completely alone.

And I wasn’t the only one.

Walk down the corridor of the life sciences building and pale, tired graduate students would look up from lab benches and computer screens.

Isaac Newton would famously work for days on end without food or sleep.

They were either repeating some experiment that had gone horribly wrong during the day, or trying to write up that thesis they’d been putting off for months.

And scientific night-owls are comfortable in the knowledge the greats went that way before them. Isaac Newton would famously work for days on end without food or sleep.

In the chemistry department of my university it was forbidden to work in certain labs alone in case of an accident with toxic or flammable chemicals. Some labs were locked at the day’s end.

But often the rules were loosely interpreted. Some students would arrange to have someone wait around during a hazardous experiment. Some Professors would encourage their students not to work late.

Some students would arrange to have someone wait around during a hazardous experiment.

In other institutions working alone is strictly forbidden. Psychology research that involves experimenting on volunteers is one example: a scientist could be at risk of assault by an unknown member of the public.

But given most research labs can often be busy places, it’s often only when the evening comes that they are empty and quiet enough to spread out and get work done.

Given the burden of work some research projects require – or just the poor time-management of some graduate students – I think nocturnal science will remain the norm.