I sat down on the folding chair in front of the emergency room admitting nurse and explained what had happened: “I’ve had an accident in my laboratory.” I was expecting a dramatic reaction. Instead I got barely a raised eyebrow. It must take a lot to surprise an emergency room nurse but still, hadn’t she heard about all the superheroes that have emerged from lab experimentation gone awry (Did she not know about Spiderman, who was bitten by a radioactive spider, or The Incredible Hulk, who was irradiated by gamma rays?) Was she not curious as to what superhuman feats…
The Science Creative Quarterly
From impressions
THE ART OF SCIENCE – THE SCIENCE OF ART?
We started a new unit in my grade 12 biology class yesterday, on the mechanisms of inheritance. I wanted to impress on my students how the recognition of DNA as the code for life pervaded and altered the public consciousness. In a century that had already seen (and would later see) more history-changing events in science than perhaps the previous two or three centuries put together, DNA still stands out. I even suggested that the DNA double-helix might be the most recognizable scientific icon of all time [1]. So, I started out the lesson by telling them about my favourite…
UNSUNG HEROES
On a blustery day in the windy season, I walked out to my study plot in the tropical cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica. For the last 25 years, I have ascended trees with mountain-climbing gear to study forest canopy biology. Three miles up the trail, one of the largest trees in the plot had toppled, an individual I knew intimately from scores of trips up and down its trunk. I had named this tree “The Mansion” because its giant crown suggests a gracious home of many rooms, each branch festooned with orchids, bromeliads, and ferns, and inhabited by a…
OVERHEARD AT A POSTER SESSION AT A RECENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE
“I heard there’s free booze in concourse A from 6:00 to 6:15!” * * * “Yes, I agree that your work casts doubt on the validity of my methods, but I think you’re missing the point…” * * * “There’s nothing worthwhile this afternoon, I’m going to the bar” “But the whole session is based on your thesis topic!” “Meh.” * * * “Uh-huh… Right… Look: I just took a job at [name of giant pharmaceutical company removed]. I really don’t care any more.” * * * “Yes, this is the same suit as yesterday. When a guy pulls down…
WHEN IT’S O.K. TO ASK, “WHAT STINKS?”
Lab rats, let’s face it. Sometimes, some of us in science sometimes sacrifice hygiene for extra time in the lab. Got a 2-hour incubation, why not go for a jog or catch a spinning class? Have to start your 12 hour ELIZA at 4:30am to make it to your 5pm seminar, why bother showering before you show up in the morning? Got soaking wet walking to the lab in the rain, why not dry out your shoes and socks on the heater? Had some funky smelling take-out 3 nights before, why not heat up the leftovers in the microwave right…
KIDS AND COMBUSTION
When I was in high school, I remember friends who were jealous that my parents knew math and science – since obviously that meant I could ask them for help with my homework. What my friends didn’t know was that my parents treated the most straightforward question as an invitation to a freewheeling Socratic dialogue of no less than 30 minutes. While I would have been happy just to finish my assignment with time to watch some TV, my parents wanted me to understand how things worked. Isn’t it funny how we do to our kids the very things our…
ANYTIME
In some respects, a person reacting to the words “she’s in a coma” necessitates a cautioned approach. Is he kidding or is he serious? It’s akin to that feeling of discomfort you get when you’re not entirely sure if a woman is pregnant or just large. But to me, the phrase represents more than this confusion – it represents a bookmark in my young family’s life; despite everything else, it marks an occasion where I think we all grew up. A week before my daughter turned one, my mother-in-law was a victim of a serious car accident. The physics were…
OF COURSE PROTEINS TALK TO EACH OTHER
My first serious molecular biology course in college was entitled “DNA and Chromatin Structure” and there were only four students enrolled. While we were expected to take our best stabs at entertaining graduate level ideas, the class size made things inherently informal. One of our most common mistakes was the casual anthropomorphizing of molecular machinery. “But the protein wouldn’t want to interact with the binding site because…” or “RNA polymerase acts like a drunken sailor during the process of transcription—halting, pausing, falling off…” We knew that these complex molecules weren’t capable of harboring a yen for anything at all, but…
AN ENGINEER IN BIOLOGYLAND
“Biology? That’s unusual.” This is something I’ve been hearing a lot lately, usually from my friends when I tell them about the courses I’m taking this term. I’m in the home stretch of my Engineering Physics degree, which is the point where I’m supposed to choose some technical electives and become a specialist. Most Engineering Physics students take traditional electives, like fluid flow, power transmission, or aerodynamics. But there is a growing group of students, like myself, who are looking to apply their engineering knowledge to less-traditional areas, and biology is perhaps one of the most popular. But how exactly…