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If the prospect of endless lab work doesn't appeal, maybe using your qualifications to address global problems more directly would be the answer. There is plenty of scope for those who wish to pursue science with a 'social conscience', as Virginia Gewin finds out.
Flexible and relatively unfettered, non-profit foundations are able to boldly go into areas of research funding often untouched by public bodies, says Helen Gavaghan.
Buoyed by a range of new technologies, science illustration is expanding its remit to offer careers beyond publishing in areas such as advertising and law. Virginia Gewin reports.
Many European PhD students and junior researchers are getting a bad deal, with few rights and little or no supervision. But things are about to change, reports Quirin Schiermeier.