Since this realization, I have begun to make an even more determined effort to find friends in unexpected people and places.

But texting and instant messaging do — and a revolution has begun.

Since then, several academic institutions have begun to require IDPs for post docs And in June, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Biomedical Research Workforce Working Group recommended that the NIH require IDPs for the approximately 32,000 postdoctoral researchers they support.