Like many young researchers, Dr Stephana Julia Moss sometimes finds herself sending e-mails late at night. Not that her colleagues know: She uses the schedule send function, so e-mails composed at 11pm arrive the following morning.

For Dr Moss and many of her friends, who work after hours because childcare invades the nine-to-five day, the function is invaluable. “Given the demands on a lot of young women professors, there are certain parts of our day when we cannot respond to our e-mail when our counterparts could,” she says.