7 ms·

My wife operates an optical trap (a sophisticated microscope, she uses it for studying gene/dna physical properties) and she's pretty good at working with that

• lmf4lol 4mo ago
  where to?
  • ArmadilloGang 4mo ago
    My family is looking at Missouri to Spain. Why Spain: Expat communities, cost of living, friendly visa options, beautiful climate. Why leave: Sick of U.S. politics and the way it directly and indirectly affects us and how difficult it is to escape from it - it’s a major point of conversations with family and friends, it’s on the local radio, local subreddit, local social media pages, etc. Also, I have over $7k in personal medical costs annually (out of pocket). That’s just me, not my family cumulatively. For Ostomy supplies, iron infusions, and more.
    • bcgnbcennxfb 4mo ago
      [dead]
    • simojo 4mo ago
      From what I understand, Spain has their own set of politics worth losing sleep over; perhaps as an expat you won't be as attached though.
      • WarmWash 4mo ago
        Apart from being the nexus of the current hot button issue - immigrants and housing costs.
      • homerowilson 4mo ago
        I (American) worked in Spain (Cáceres, Extremadura) ~2015-2017 in tech. It was a wonderful experience. Extremely talented, hard-working, and friendly co-workers. Great health-care and education systems. I think since then rising housing prices partially due to migration have become an issue, but it's a really, really nice place.
        • pvaldes 4mo ago
          To add context Extremadura is a member of the "poor" Spain. To US people could be useful to think on a sort of New Mexico. Pros: Great food, interesting cultural past, only one language to deal with and not complicated accents to grasp (more important that most people think), gorgeous wild areas, uncomplicated people, maybe a little on the introverted side at first, but solid gold after a while. Cons: Risk of poverty sadly high, bigger than many US states (but with better government support and healthcare). Harsh continental climate very hot and very cold. Not for everybody (but US has plenty of places with similar or worse weather). The trains and communication roads are also under-average for the country and many people don't really speak English. In many of the non highly touristic places you can live well if you can adapt to the cons. Housing prices are lower, life expenses cheaper and buying a house should be affordable with a decent job (Don't try this in Barcelona or Madrid). Portugal is close, and is even cheaper, to the point of some people living there and working in Spain. To support the same standard of living in Barcelona, Valencia or Madrid you need to plan in advance, to stomach the stress that unavoidably come with big cities, and earn much more. In Spain if you can speak English well you will be automatically seen as a great researcher.
          • hylaride 4mo ago
            More pro: Spain may be one of the best places in Europe to raise kids (culturally, especially), though a good chunk of the country has emptied out of its young people - so it can vary by region. It's a shame that their birth rate has gotten so low. Crime overall is very low, especially if you're not tied directly to it. More cons: You will eventually have to shift to a very different customer service climate and hours. The development levels can vary quite a bit, especially "modern" infrastructure like internet outside of the major cities (maybe that's gotten better in the last 5 years). Bureaucracy of some institutions (government/finance) can be extremely frustrating.
      • crystal_revenge 4mo ago
        Most American ex-pats don't really understand that the thing that makes ex-pat life so attractive is that, for most of people's lives, being American in a foreign country has traditionally conferred a wide range of benefits (this is most clearly exemplified by the way Americans living in a foreign country refer to themselves as "ex-pats" not "immigrants"). The ex-pat solution assumes American exceptionalism as its foundation. Historically Americans have benefited from income asymmetry and a fairly wide-spread desire by foreign nations not to cause too much legal trouble for US nationals abroad. I have quite a few friends that do live, quite happily, abroad. But the common pattern for them is a.) fluency in the native language b.) historical association with the country c.) fairly large cash reserves so they can ignore any economic problems these countries are facing.
        • jorblumesea 4mo ago
          expat is usually synonymous with fire/retire early. most people move to spain or portugal and see their purchasing power multiply.
          • Xixi 4mo ago
            That sounds more like FIRE / geographic arbitrage than expat in the traditional sense. What people often mean by a "true expat" is something completely different: someone sent abroad by their employer, usually with a generous expatriate package (home-country salary, local allowances, housing, private schooling for children, etc.) More broadly, though, expatriate simply means someone living outside their native country. Ex means "out of", and patria means "native country" or "homeland". It's that simple. So the word itself isn't limited to wealthy retirees or corporate transfers. All immigrants are expatriates, although not every expatriate is necessarily an immigrant.
        • titanomachy 4mo ago
          Americans didn’t invent the term or the concept of “expat”, colonial Europeans have been doing it in Africa and Asia for centuries.
          • 4mo ago
      • Aurornis 4mo ago
        Most places have their own politics. What differs is how often they come up. As a foreigner you're usually spared the involvement in those discussions because people think you're not interested and don't want your outsider opinion anyway. People also embed themselves in different communities when they move anywhere, even to a different city or state in the same country. It's a clean reset. It doesn't always last forever. I know several people who tried to move somewhere, including internationally, when politics got heated in 2016. Most of them came back eventually with a realization that politics is everywhere, it's just a matter of how much you're embedded into the places it's discussed.
        • rwyinuse 4mo ago
          Politics is everywhere, but the state of US politics today is exceptionally bad by Western world standards. I hate the government in my country, but their corruption and incompetence is nothing compared to the Trump administration. In that sense most EU countries are a positive upgrade.
      • geerlingguy 4mo ago
        "The grass is always greener", "the enemy you know", etc. etc.
    • rbtprograms 4mo ago
      americans pretending they aren't immigrants by using the term expat always cracks me up
      • shermantanktop 4mo ago
        I guess I think of "expat" as a possibly-temporary state where full assimilation is not the goal. American expats also pay American taxes unless they give up US citizenship. Technically of course you are right.
        • adev_ 4mo ago
          > American expats also pay American taxes unless they give up US citizenship. Practically, they barely pay anything significant. The lower net salary in Europe / Asia associated with rather high local tax means that most Americans citizens oversea barely own anything significant back to the state. However it does remain an annoyance to fill the tax declaration every year: I know several American who chose to give up their citizenahip just to avoid this specific issue.
          • eblume 4mo ago
            I'm not sure I follow. I am a US citizen and have never lived abroad, but my understanding is that US Citizens living abroad must still pay the US a full federal income tax. It's graduated/progressive, of course, so the actual percentage may vary, but it should probably be between 15% and 40% of income. Not what I would call small. I don't think they can deduct local taxes, can they?
            • Rudybega 4mo ago
              There's a huge exclusion. The 2026 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) allows qualifying U.S. expats to exclude up to $132,900 of foreign-earned income from their U.S. federal income taxes. Married couples can exclude up to $265,800 if both spouses work abroad and each meets the eligibility requirements.
    • lbrito 4mo ago
      Housing is really expensive in Spain and Portugal right now. I live in BC and mid/small cities there are actually more expensive than here
      • asdff 4mo ago
        https://old.reddit.com/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer/comments/1thk1bn/interior_pics_of_my_home_valencia_spain_120k_21/ https://old.reddit.com/r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer/comments/1thk1bn... Cheaper than 120k?
        • schnitzelstoat 4mo ago
          That must be outside of Valencia city at that price. And anywhere near Madrid or Barcelona (where most of the good jobs are), forget it. It'll be 350k for a 100m2 apartment or even more expensive in the popular neighbourhoods.
          • asdff 4mo ago
            Op said it's 20 mins by car to the city center.
            • lbrito 4mo ago
              That is far by European standards. Op is Spanish.
              • asdff 4mo ago
                20 minutes is 20 minutes whether you are american or spanish.
        • lbrito 4mo ago
          Sure, you can find something with various budgets. As other said, that house is far away from the city centre (the reddit OP says so in the thread). You'll also probably need to spend a lot on upkeep and retrofits with buildings this old. Something in the city centre is more like 4800 euro/sqmt (https://www.idealista.com/sala-de-prensa/informes-precio-vivienda/venta/comunitat-valenciana/valencia-valencia/valencia/ciutat-vella/ https://www.idealista.com/sala-de-prensa/informes-precio-viv...). Just browse idealista in the city you want and you'll see its not such a bargain as people might think. Mid-sized cities I've checked (Vigo, Valencia, Granada) all have similar prices, around 400k for a 2-3 bed older apartment, or twice as much for a newer one.
    • saturn8601 4mo ago
      Man Spain is mentioned as a top destination with expat influencers, youtubers and now even on hn. I get the feeling that something is going to crack at some point. You must be pricing out locals and they can't be happy about that.
      • indoorfish 4mo ago
        Sounds like the locals are just racist then?
        • megous 4mo ago
          Being a rich fuck used to 5x+ the local median income is not a "race". So it can't be racism.
          • AnimalMuppet 4mo ago
            I suspect that indoorfish's point is that, in the US, when similar situations happen, and get similar reactions, then accusations of racism fly.
            • jasonfarnon 4mo ago
              people in the US complaining about gentrification get called racist?
              • defrost 4mo ago
                People in the US stating that black lives matter get called racist. So, yes.
                • fooqux 4mo ago
                  That topic at least involves matters of race though? Not saying you're wrong, just that it's perhaps not the best counter-argument.
    • tick_tock_tick 4mo ago
      > Why leave: Sick of U.S. politics and the way it directly and indirectly affects us and how difficult it is to escape from it - it’s a major point of conversations with family and friends, it’s on the local radio, local subreddit, local social media pages, etc. I mean so you'll move to Spain and just be horrible ignorant of any issues facing the local population, living in a financial bubble where you've earned significantly move then the them and can ignore any political issues locally. Sure it's "freeing" to just move and stop caring about "politics" and use money to smooth over or move again if anything slightly bothers you.
      • noisy_boy 4mo ago
        What are you talking about? They will move to Spain and be financially well off means they will be ignorant of local issues and live in a bubble? How did you make that stretch? Sure they may not be very political but that doesn't equate to living in a bubble. People choose to engage with politics at varying degrees, as is their right. Isn't it enough to not having to look over your shoulder fearing you will be a statistic in the long list of atrocities being committed by this government? Having a good quality of life is something to be guilty about?!
    • deleted 4mo ago
      [deleted]
• drak0n1c 4mo ago
  There are many biotech startups and private research labs thriving and paying high salaries with excellent benefits for that specialty right now - focused on genetic testing, editing, and longevity. Before moving abroad, widening the search outside of academia and considering moving internally might be worthwhile.
  • tw04 4mo ago
    Why would they want to stay in a country actively trying to dismantle democracy and science if they have another option?
    • jatora 4mo ago
      Because it hasn't had as much time to dismantle democracy as all of the other democracies in the world have. lol
  • dwa3592 4mo ago
    We are not convinced that we will be happy in the industry and part of it is the visa issues. She currently has a valid visa until 2029 but she just doesn't want it anymore.
    • junofan 4mo ago
      [flagged]
      • jdc0589 4mo ago
        how exactly did you jump to the conclusion that American ?citizen? taxpayes are propping these two people up financially? They are presumably both paying income tax in the United States as well, probably a lot of it based on his wife's profession.
  • avs733 4mo ago
    Why assume that this is about finding a job? I happily had a job in academia in the US. Probably what most would call “successful” after exiting a startup and getting a PhD I was US engineering faculty for 8 years. We picked up our keys to our new house in another country a few days ago and I start next month with a faculty promotion. Many of my colleagues are or are looking to follow.
• realityfactchex 4mo ago
  > She has cried a lot in the last one year for the mess science research has become. At least it's a good thing that we're able to a) observe and b) talk about and c) acknowledge openly(ish) that academic, mainstream, practicing "science" (including as visible to microscopists and all that entails) is currently a "mess". This allows us to, eventually, address those issues (or die trying!). Science used to move at a pace of one lifetime after another (pearl clutching 'til the end and confirmation bias and careers built on saving face and economic entrenchments all that). But I hypothesize that with AI, we can point to "a thing that is not a person with all that is bundled up with that" and say "look, maybe this other train of thought is worth entertaining". Not to say the AI is right. Ideas will stand or fall on their own merit. Just that an AI is not a person outside the field. Normally, an outsider says something, nobody listens. But, if an anonymous AI says something (of course, cleaned up for voice and concision and validated by a human as a first pass), the worst you can say is "ok prove it" or "here is where that is wrong". Instead of: deafening silence. In other words, I hope AI augments our ability to have those hard conversations that need to be had. Without people losing their jobs due to their prior (understandable) errors, and within the spirit of always using the best available information. I shared this optimistic indirect use-case for AI with (less technical) friends recently, and they literally were speechless and finally one person said "you're the only one who thinks that". Am I right, though? There's a there there, isn't there?
  • tensor 4mo ago
    No. AI is not doing science. And also no, science is not being held back by "pearl clutching" and "unwillingness to let brilliant non-science geniuses in." While there are a lot of problems with how the journal model of publication has evolved over time, and AI has actually made that problem far worse, not better, the real threat and "mess" that science is in currently in the US is from the administration. Science in the US used to be one of the world's best funded science communities, and also one with the most independence. That is currently being reversed at a startling pace, both in funding and independence. This is the mess science is in, and it's a great loss for the world. While US science leadership may not have been without issue, it was still a huge positive for humanity. It's not about AI.
• itsamario 4mo ago
  When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom. -Confucius I've read that asia is leading the world in scientific discoveries and therefore Mandarin gets the naming rights. That's privilege and the reason English is fleeting
  • mbivert 4mo ago
    I've read that too. Yet, I've also read stuff like [0]. The truth is probably somewhere it between [0]: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01902-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01902-0
    • emodendroket 4mo ago
      I'm sure they do genuinely have those problems but it's not like Western research has been free of such scandals.
  • BigTTYGothGF 4mo ago
    > When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom. -Confucius I don't think I believe that this is a real Confucius quote.
• agumonkey 4mo ago
  russia: brain drain usa: brain drain where is everybody going ?
  • AlexCoventry 4mo ago
    Canada, Europe, China.
    • 383toast 4mo ago
      not much talent is going from US to Canada, it's almost always the reverse if you look at top canadian universities
      • plaidthunder 4mo ago
        US citizen moves to Canada on a CUSMA visa: - 30-50% pay cut - points and lottery based immigration system that penalizes them for each year you age after 30 - frequent unfavorable rule changes - fear of being trapped forever on a temporary visa and eventually sent back to the USA, poorer than their peers who stayed stateside. Canadian citizen moves to us on equivalent CUSMA visa: - huge pay raise - retire back home wealthier than their peers and still enjoy socialized healthcare. Canada's immigration system is just structurally tilted toward brain drain. It's all stick and no carrot.
        • joe_mamba 4mo ago
          >US citizen moves to Canada on a CUSMA visa: - 30-50% pay cut But what about "free healthcare". Don't americans want socialized healthcare over their despised privatized system? > - points and lottery based immigration system that penalizes them for each year you age after 30 Many countries with socialized healthcare do this. They only want young people and don't want older people who are a risk at becoming a burden to the state before they paid a lot into the system. After a certain age or health status, many workers, even locals not just immigrants, start to become a net negative to the welfare state, consuming more resources in care than they contribute back, so you need a constant stream of young healthy workers to keep the ponzi scheme going. US being private healthcare doesn't give a damn since your health conditions are your own problem. >Canada's immigration system is just structurally tilted toward brain drain. It's all stick and no carrot. And yet they have record immigration rates, mostly from india. So it seems there's plenty of desperate people on the planet that don't even need a carrot, they prefer the Canadian stick because the situation back in their home is so much worse than the canadian stick. However, I do think that if you're relying on a stream of desperate people from all over the world to replenish your own brain drain because you manage to push away your most valuable people, then you're doing it wrong and it's not gonna be sustainable, you're just putting band aids on major structural issues to cover the rot, and eventuall y the piper will have to be paid.
• bellowsgulch 4mo ago
  [flagged]
• jjtheblunt 4mo ago
  > We are moving out of the country at the end of August. Is the assertion there are no places for her to enjoy doing what she's great at, without leaving the country, in private industry? Genuinely curious.
  • fearmerchant 4mo ago
    The US is still dominant for research spending and high impact scientific publications and medicine. I too would be interested in where they think it would be better. Israel and South Korea are the only two that might provide more opportunities depending on the area of interest.
  • dwa3592 4mo ago
    Fair question - our concerns are multidimensional. Funding cut + Visa uncertainty + ICE arresting us and putting us in detention + us visiting another country but not being allowed to enter back are a few of them.
    • userbinator 4mo ago
      [flagged]
• blindriver 4mo ago
  This is what happens when we are $40 Trillion in debt. I'm sorry that scientific projects are being cut but are we supposed to keep funding everything ad infinitum regardless of how our economy and our future is going to be crippled by debt? EVERYONE is going to be crying about their projects being cut and there's no good way to do it where everyone is going to be happy. Some people are going to lose their jobs, and that sucks but there is no other way except having the courage to cut funding. We have to cut everything and then reorganize at a lower budget number and the reallocate funds to the most important projects. We can't keep funding everything. You may not care about our debt but I certainly do and there's more than enough of us around that care. Our descendants are going to be fucked and that's not fair. I'm sorry you're losing your job but soon over half our budget is going to be used to pay off interest on our debt. Just the interest and not the principal. This is an economic crisis.
  • Ar-Curunir 4mo ago
    Maybe you should complain about the other leeches on your economy, like, eg, the military. Science funding is a minuscule part of the US budget
  • jddj 4mo ago
    It's an economic crisis where they cut taxes and start wars though
    • blindriver 4mo ago
      Starting wars was stupid and dumb and I hope the next administration cuts military just as severely but cutting spending severely isn't wrong.
      • cryptoegorophy 4mo ago
        Being friends with Israel and giving them billions of dollars annually was a dumb idea. There would’ve been no war between USA and Iran if there wasn’t such a close friendship with ridiculously acting Israel.
  • 4mo ago
• 9eLeven 4mo ago
  [flagged]
• protocolture 4mo ago
  [flagged]
  • throwaway27448 4mo ago
    Just because some people call us a democracy doesn't mean you can shunt responsibility onto arbitrary folks.
    • protocolture 4mo ago
      The US populace isnt "Arbitrary" it should be directly accountable for the actions of the government it funds and supports.
      • deleted 4mo ago
        [deleted]
  • dwa3592 4mo ago
    We didn't. We can't vote. If anything, last three years I worked in fraud detection in healthcare - my work is currently being used by the medicare audit team. So respectfully, we only wanted good for this country.
  • platevoltage 4mo ago
    I live in a state where my vote for President basically doesn't count, so you can fuck right off with that.
    • protocolture 4mo ago
      Ok, so you think your responsibility ends with voting? You build and fund a giant death machine and "welp my vote for death machine leader doesn't count so nothing else can be done"?.
      • platevoltage 4mo ago
        How about throwing a few direct action ideas my way. What should I be doing in your mind?
• groundzeros2015 4mo ago
  [flagged]
• ulfw 4mo ago
  I applaud you for that! Where are you heading?
• userbinator 4mo ago
  [flagged]
• dostick 4mo ago
  So you are saying that American dream became an optical trap?