Visiting Olde Boston
The best tourist attractions in the Boston area
My dear family and friends, I am so delighted to learn of your intention to visit! It would be wonderful to see you again and show you around this beautiful city that I’ve come to call home. Although I’ve lived here for a few years, it often takes the special occasion of visitors to create […]
Ladies Lunch
How I helped form a group by and for female scientists
First-year students in the biology department take classes and do rotations. Since we don’t join a lab until the end of the academic year, we have a designated room — “The Pit” — where we have access to books, computers, printers, lockers, and a relaxing lounge area. During my first year in graduate school, The Pit […]
East Asian Food Odyssey
Places to visit for quality East Asian food in the MIT area
The saying, “a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” rings true to me. I inherited the joy I get from food and the importance I put on it from my late grandfather. On family trips he would pick out amazing restaurants that brought back memories of when he was young, and where […]
Glowing Green Goo
Why we think all radioactive materials glow
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “radioactive”? For many people, this word conjures up images of ominously glowing material. In the opening credits to The Simpsons, a running gag is Homer’s mishandling of a glowing green bar of radioactive material. As someone who works with a fair bit […]
Handmade Research
How building and repairing equipment with my hands has made me a better scientist
When I first took my parents to my lab, my father was appalled. “This place is worse than my shop.” To truly understand this insult, consider that my father is a farmer who works in a 40-year-old shop with concrete floors and metal walls. Seed is sometimes stored in the back, the machining equipment is […]
