After writing about a new generation of scientists who are
increasingly using their own kids as test subjects, I found this fascinating
(and often adorable) video about a scientist, Deborah Linebarger, who has
conducted experiments with her four children.
For me, the upshot of these interviews with ethicists, scientists,
and children test subjects is that Linebarger struggles with balancing her career
and her family, making mistakes with her older kids that she doesn’t repeat with
her younger kids, worrying unnecessarily about her children's development. In other words, she struggles, like everyone, with being
parent. She just happens to hope that she’ll make a huge scientific
breakthrough while playing with her kids—and hey, what’s wrong with that?
Related Post: Is It Ethical for Scientists to Use Their Kids as Test Subjects?
Photo: New York Times
