Tag: Science

  • Paying Attention to Product and Process

    Many scientists, especially biochemists, love to cook when they are not spending time in the laboratory. After all, a recipe bears resemblance to a protocol, some measuring cups look like beakers, and a creative dish is just an edible experiment. Whenever I have the opportunity, I enjoy spending time at the granite lab bench known […]

  • What Lab Glassware Taught Me About Community

    As a graduate student working in a research lab, I quickly came to appreciate the person who washed and prepared the glassware. If we ran out of clean graduated cylinders, beakers, and flasks, all the experiments for the day would need to be put on hold. Furthermore, we had to place our trust in the […]

  • Constructing Newton’s Bridge

    Isaac Newton, one of the most influential scientists who ever lived, also was a Christian theologian. He once said, “We build too many walls and not enough bridges.” His quote resonates with me because bridges filled the landscape of my childhood. I spent the first eighteen years of my life growing up in “The City […]

  • Blip or Trend?

    At some point in every relationship and along every path to a goal, something goes wrong. A friend disappoints you. A partner is insensitive. You are disillusioned by how a teacher, coach, or church leader handles a situation. You experience a setback. You make a careless mistake. You skip your morning run and choose a […]

  • Which Butterfly Caused the Tornado?

    The public expects science to deliver discoveries that provide increasingly precise answers about our world. Yet some scientific discoveries suggest inherent limits to scientific knowledge. One example is chaos theory, popularized as the “butterfly effect.” The butterfly effect is a simple insight first extracted from the complex science of meteorology by Edward Lorentz in 1961 […]

  • Finding Answers Together

      Near the end of a typical Harvard commencement ceremony, the University President confers degrees on the candidates from the various schools. Doctoral candidates belonging to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are welcomed “to the ancient and universal company of scholars,” a traditional phrase that accurately describes the life of an academic researcher. […]

  • The Power of a Good Question

    I believe in the power of a good question. Questions promote discovery. Every scientific experiment starts with a question that leads to a hypothesis. Why is the sky blue? What causes uncontrolled growth in tumor cells? How do plants convert sunlight into energy? In life, questions can clarify your goals and sharpen your sense of […]