Extreme strain, exhaustion, feeling like turning into a character in a video game... is the state of an American scientist, Martin Tingley, at the start of his academic career.
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People like Tingley are under great pressure to publish research, find grants and secure their positions.

The result of the September, 2004 survey of Nature report shows that research is becoming less attractive. "I found the job of a research team leader who ran the lab terrible." "I see many partners divorce, exhausted, ended scientific career. I am very tired myself. " The biggest challenge is competition for scarce funding for decades. "The number of people working in science is at the highest level in history, but the funding is constant," said Jon Lorsch, director of the National Institutes of Health.
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Both young people and those having high positions in the scientific community are under great pressure to publish their findings. They are evaluated on the basis of scientific publication records and source of funding, but without clear objectives. They feel that they are trying to produce one article to another in an endless journey.
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The over-competitive atmosphere is choking creativity and pushing scientists into the pursuit of "trivial science" - safe but tedious projects, according to Bruce Alberts, the renowned biochemist at the University of California, USA.
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Resources need to be shifted to young people", said by Alberts. He proposed to the European Research Allocation Board to divide the applicants into three groups according to the number of years of experience, so that the beginners are not so unfavorable to his accomplished colleagues. Meanwhile, Lorsch said it was important to encourage older scientists to focus on teaching, mentoring and scientific advice - things that do not "drain" the child's funding.
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In 2016, American National Institutes of Health piloted a science-based funding program that was divided by age group like Alberts idea.

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Summarized by Huu Nhan (Nature)
Edited and translated by Jenny