at least that's what we say we are doin

found on Quotenik, my new favorite thing:

“Even the hardest of the sciences depend on a foundation of metaphors. To be aware of metaphors is to be humbled by the complexity of the world, to realize that deep in the undercurrents of thought there are thousands of lenses popping up between us and the world’” 

—David Brooks

and the sky grows dark (if you're looking up)

"Please use one word to describe yourself" 

"What word would others use to describe you?"

I had a job interview last week. It was over the phone. I'd never really thought about it before but because it lacked the normal personal contact I felt the extreme strangeness of the situation... I tried to boil myself down to a few phrases and events and present it in a way that I though might make someone else interested... it felt absurd.

I realized that these two phrases are a nice example of what I'm interested in and where my work comes from. The answers to these questions both successfully communicate something and fail to really say anything. Embedded in the response are years of experience, a personalized connotation based on the way your mom described your uncle or how your least favorite teacher said "determined" five hundred times a day. You blindly give out a wordyou to believe it means one thing while the person you deliver it to has a completely different set of experiences that may or may not lead them to feel favorably about this word.

This tension that I find so fascinating and the way we bridge the gap between us and other. We try and try and try and sometimes it works out. It's just so beautifully human.

Though, I'm not really expecting a call back any time soon. 

I used the word "determined"

the state I am in

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am perpetually nervous about the significant influence my scientific studies have on my art. As a firm believer that natural phenomena are beautiful in their own right, I struggle with how often I appropriate these naturally arresting images yet I'm continually drawn to them as aids in dissecting less concrete phenotypes. 

Relationships seen in nature can be immensely useful, insightful, and powerful. I seek to harness those qualities, adding to the inherent beauty and progressing toward greater understanding.

Currently, I'm obsessed with chick embryos in culture

Image taken from Rita Levi-Montalcini's nobel lecture.