Slow progress reforming academia creates its own generation gap

Bar chart

Source: © Getty Images

Requirements from funders and hiring committees have a cultural influence

Do generation gaps make it hard for colleagues of different ages to work together? Sensationalised stories across social media and traditional news outlets can give the impression that young and old can’t help but exasperate each other. But Rachel Brazil’s article suggests that while chemists of different ages do take different approaches to their work, these differences are not large, acting more as a source of diversity than of conflict.