This piece examines what it means to stay in academia amid mounting pressure. Through the lens of academic research, it questions whether persistence is about exceptional self-discipline or about learning to endure criticism, rejection, and uncertainty, and why, despite it all, many choose to remain.

Neuroscience often reports differences between “male” and “female” brains. However, a critical question remains: how much of these reported differences reflect biological reality, and how much are shaped by the way research is designed, analysed, and interpreted?