In an interview with the New York Times, Greider claims that more women gravitate toward her field not because there's anything particularly feminine about it, but because in a field where men tend to help other men, women must try to support other women:

The derogatory term is the "old boys network." It's not that they are biased against women or want to hurt them. They just don't think of them. And they often feel more comfortable promoting their male colleagues.

She goes on to mention the former president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, who most definitely is biased against women. Despite the gains women have made in science, there is still a clear tendency to think of science - and, it should be noted, economics - as something for boys only. Many have celebrated the recent Nobel record - 5 women won this year, out of 13 - but the so-called "record" isn't actually very impressive. And what's worse is the previous record: In 2004, only 3 women were awarded the prize. Greider is quick to point out that one year does not a trend make:

I certainly hope it's a sign that things are going to be different in the future. But I'm a scientist, right? This is one event. I'm not going to see one event and say it's a trend. I hope it is. One of the things I did with the press conference that Johns Hopkins gave was to have my two kids there. In the newspapers, there's a picture of me and my kids right there. How many men have won the Nobel in the last few years, and they have kids the same age as mine, and their kids aren't in the picture? That's a big difference, right? And that makes a statement.

But another important statement is being made on Twitter, where Elinor Ostrom is a top trend. We're pretty sure this honor is nothing compared to winning the Nobel prize, but when Twitter trending topics usually include stuff like "#liesgirlstell" and "#3wordsaftersex," the inclusion of a female researcher is most definitely a step up.

On Winning A Nobel Prize In Science [New York Times]
Nobel Prizes 2009: A Record Year For Women [AP]
Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize Winner, Top Trend On Twitter [Examiner]

Ostrom is also the fifth woman to win a Nobel this year, a new "record." Ostrom, who teaches at the Indiana University, Bloomington, and has a Ph.D. in political science, describes the honor as an "immense surprise," adding, "I'm still a little bit in shock." She will share the $1.4 million prize with Oliver Williamson, but does not plan to keep her half for herself, explaining she intends to devote the proceeds to supporting research and funding graduate students.

Americans Ostrom, Williamson Win Nobel Economics [Washington Post]
Ostrom, Williamson Win Nobel Prize For Economics [Wall Street Journal]
Elinor Ostrom And Oliver E. Williamson Win Nobel In Economic Science [New York Times]

[Baltimore, October 5. Image via Getty]

BALTIMORE - OCTOBER 05: Professor Carol Greider decribes her surprise to friends before a news conference after it was announced that she won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at Johns Hopkins University October 5, 2009 in Baltimore, Maryland. Greider, 48, was recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for her 1984 discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that maintains the length and intergrity of chromosome ends and is critical for the health and survivial of all living cells and organisms. Greider, the Daniel Nathans Professor and Director of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, shares the prize with Professor Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California and Jacks Szostack of Harvard Medical School. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

[Antigua, Guatemala; May 11. Image via Getty]

Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize (1992) laureate Rigoberta Menchu attends the Nobel Prize Winners' Initiative Forum 'Women Redefining Democracy for Peace, Justice, and Equality' in Antigua Guatemala, 45 km west of Guatemala City, on May 11, 2009. Nobel Peace Prize winners Menchu, Irish Mairead Maguire (1976), US Jody Williams (1997) and Iranian Shirin Ebadi (2003) are attending the meeting. AFP PHOTO/Eitan Abramovich (Photo credit should read EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images)

Related: I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman In Guatemala [Amazon]

• John McCain's had some more time to think about John Lewis's words of caution about the level of racial intolerance and violence coming out in this election season. He thinks John Lewis' words were unacceptable. [CNN]
• Of course, he probably didn't read this article about how calling an African-American political figure a socialist has a long and unfortunate history dating back to efforts to make African-American political leaders — and their fight for equality — seem foreign and scary. [American Prospect]
• Or this one about how too many white people subconsciously associate white people with America and black people with foreign stuff. [Washington Post]
• Or this one, about how people think only the white working class voters of the Midwest count as an authentic political coalition. [American Prospect]

• Meanwhile, Barack Obama's got a new economic plan that involves you being able to access your retirement savings more easily and puts a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. [NY Times]
• But the McCainiacs definitely read that because their on-again-off-again new economic stimulus plan is back on again for tomorrow, which is totally the way to avoid looking erratic. [TPM Election Central]
• And Nancy Pfotenhauer Pfuckingsucks still fucking sucks and is forced to, giggling, accuse über-conservative Bill Kristol of buying into Obama's hype. [Think Progress]
• Oh and, yes, Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize in economics. I sort of feel bad now that I skipped reading his book in college. [NY Times]

Doris on her Nobel win: "If I may be catty, Sweden doesn't have anything else. There's not a great literary tradition, so they make the most of the Nobel."
Doris on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe:"He's a monstrous little terror."
Doris on being called the "epicist of the female experience": "Well, they had to say something…I can just see somebody sitting there thinking, 'What the hell are we going to say about this one? She doesn't like being called a feminist so what'll we say?' So they scribbled that."
Doris on Doris: "I tend to speak my mind, which is not necessarily a good idea. I do not think I am the soul of tact."
[Time]

When I wrote [classic novel 'The Golden Notebook'], for a long time I hesitated about describing the [heroine's] joy in her pubic hair, young and glossy, and growing in three perfect little swirls. But I knew there would be a fuss and if this was a question of principle, then it wasn't my principle.

Later, in the 1970s, I wrote a story called One off the Short List, and in it a woman is described as having golden fringes of underarm hair. An American publisher, and then magazines, would not print the story because of that hair. Yet in America you might describe any killings, tortures, rapes, horrors of war, cruelties. Not underarm hair in a story about seduction and sex. But I insisted, for by then, it was a matter of principle.

When Writing the Personal Was Revolutionary [The American Prospect]

Video [Yahoo News via FourFour]
Lessing Not Impressed by Nobel Prize [AP]