Question: How much time does being a scientist take out of your daily life?

Dawn Lau answered on 14 Jun 2016:

More time than a 9am-5pm office job! But being a scientist happens to be a job I really love, so even though sometimes I have to stay in the lab late into the evening or on weekends to run experiments, it’s not a big deal. In my work you can be pretty flexible, depending on what experiments you have to run or whether you’re writing a scientific article, etc. Because of this flexibility, I can plan in longer lunch hours and go home a little later than usual, or come in really early in the morning so I can leave at 3:30pm to leave for a flight. But being a scientist never stops – sometimes science thoughts pop into your head on days that you aren’t at work as well!