<img alt=“scientist punchstock.JPG” src=“https://blogs.nature.com/news/thegreatbeyond/scientist%20punchstock.JPG” width=“230” height=“220” hsapce=10 border=0 align=right />Today we hail the most underappreciated people in the world of research. People without whose unstinting and oft-unacknowledged effort the cogs of the science machine would surely seize up.

No, not science news reporters, but the lowly post-doc. For today is the first annual National Postdoc Appreciation Day.

“We are celebrating the significant contribution that postdoctoral scholars make to the US scientific research enterprise and, at the same time, increasing awareness of this contribution,” says the National Postdoctoral Association.

Events celebrating the contribution of post-docs are taking place across the US today. Perhaps reflecting the fact that many of these researchers live something of a hand to mouth existence, many of these events focus on offering food and career advice.

Bonus points to UCSF for having a magician at their event: “And for my next trick, I will make your dreams of tenure disappear.”

Why not join in the appreciation by telling us why you love post docs? Over on the Nature News twitter feed we’re asking you to complete this sentence:

I luv pdocs bcos…(hashtag: #luvpdocs)

And lab-managers, the correct answer is not ‘because they’re cheap’…

Image: Punchstock