Tag: Scientific Process

On reading The Double Helix

I recently reread The Double Helix because I am interested in understanding why people began thinking that the structure of DNA was an important problem. Watson and Crick are the most famous 20th century biologists – if you ask a random person on the street to name a 20th century biologist, the most likely response is a blank stare, but the second most likely response is Watson and Crick. Why? Why did the structure of DNA turn out to be so enlightening, and why did people think it was an important problem in the early 50’s?

I first read this book in the 90’s before I became a scientist, and so I missed much of Watson’s insight into how scientists sniff out and pursue a good problem. Watson argues that only a few key people were thinking of DNA as being the key to heredity, but things clearly weren’t going to stay that way for long – DNA’s significance would soon be recognized, and so those hoping to solve the problem had to work fast before more competitors arrived.

The key to understanding The Double Helix is to figure out when Watson is accurately describing the quirky way in which scientific personalities interact in the process of pursuing hot science, and when Watson is being an asshole. Continue reading “On reading The Double Helix”

Eric Lander knows the secret to success

He reveals it in today’s NY Times:

After his morning workout, he sometimes goes to a local bakery where he can work quietly

Sometimes the key to getting things done is knowing where to hide. The other secret to success is luck:

“I feel like it’s so incredibly lucky to end up here,” he said. “I could not have planned this. What if I hadn’t met David Botstein? What if I hadn’t gone to a meeting where the human genome was discussed? I have no idea. This is as random as it gets.”

It’s frightening just how random it is, particularly if you’re outside the inner circle. (There’s always that inner circle, the one I’m never inside of, even though I’ve also met David Botstein.) There is no doubt that Lander is exceptionally talented, and skilled at sniffing out key opportunities, but part of the story is being lucky to find yourself in those circles where opportunities are offered. The name of the institution where you work matters a great deal when it comes to making first impressions, regardless of your other qualifications.

Darwin on how to be a scientist

Great prostrate silicified trunks of trees, embedded in a conglomerate, were extraordinarily numerous. I measured one which was fifteen feet in circumference: how surprising it is that every atom of the woody matter in this great cylinder should have been removed and replaced by silex so perfectly that each vessel and pore is preserved! These trees flourished at about the period of our lower chalk; they all belonged to the fir-tribe. It was amusing to hear the inhabitants discussing the nature of the fossil shells which I collected, almost in the same terms as were used a century ago in Europe,–namely, whether or not they had been thus “born by nature.” My geological examination of the country generally created a good deal of surprise amongst the Chilenos: it was long before they could be convinced that I was not hunting for mines. This was sometimes troublesome: I found the most ready way of explaining my employment was to ask them how it was that they themselves were not curious concerning earthquakes and volcanos?–why some springs were hot and others cold?–why there were mountains in Chile, and not a hill in La Plata? These bare questions at once satisfied and silenced the greater number; some, however (like a few in England who are a century behindhand), thought that all such inquiries were useless and impious; and that it was quite sufficient that God had thus made the mountains.

– Voyage of The Beagle, Chapter XVI

One of the remarkable features of this book is Darwin’s relentless commitment to a scientific point of view. He asks questions nobody around him thinks to ask, and he is unsatisfied with answers not based in observable evidence and reasoned thought.

Other damaged people

If you like food, hate pretentious irony, and think social misfits should get a chance to be successful, then you will probably enjoy this interview of Anthony Bourdain by Mark Maron.

If Bourdain is correct about people (and I suspect he is), people get involved with the cooking industry (around the 55th minute) for the same reasons they get into the scientific industry – and it is not for a love of food or science, though that may come later: Continue reading “Other damaged people”

Cinde-really 4: The Great Slipper Screen

This fourth post, long-awaited by two people, concludes a two-part post based on my having to watch Disney’s Cinderella roughly 17837 times. After a while, you start noticing the little things, or go mad, or both.

Like a Freudian psycho-analyst asking about mom, screens bring up issues[1] for classical geneticists. Screens are what we do. Conceptually, screens are simple. In fact, they are like your screen door. The goal is start with everything and separate it into two groups – one that passes the screen and one excluded by the screen – based on a particular characteristic. Your screen door tries to do this based on size, letting in the breeze, but keeping out the flies, if everything is working well.

With screens, be they in the genetics laboratory or your back door, the devil is in the details. We need to worry about how well the screen works. If our screen door has holes in it or we are opening the door a lot, bugs are going to get in. If the screen is dirty, it might not let as much of the breeze through as we would like[2]. We need to worry about whether we are actually screening for the characteristic we care about. Screen doors separate bugs from breeze based on size. They do not detect “bug” and zap it with a laser, because one house could not contain that much awesome[3].

I’m concerned that the King, Grand Duke, and Prince did not think through the details of their attempt to screen their female subjects for Cinderella – i.e., The Great Slipper Screen[4]. Continue reading “Cinde-really 4: The Great Slipper Screen”