Sign up now and receive the HHMI Bulletin by mail free.

Ask students what keeps them in science—they just might tell you. More

Helen Hobbs, who thrives in the fast pace and intensity of medicine, did not settle easily into the more measured world of research. More

“My top pick is Alice Waters, the chef and co-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. Alice Waters champions the use of local, just-picked ingredients and appears to have a generous spirit. My first meal at Chez Panisse was a revelation; like nothing else I had ever eaten. Her food appears simple, but has layers of complex tastes and textures. Since I can't actually be her for a day, I'd sure like to be able to spend a day with her in the kitchen”

“I'd love to trade places for a day with either of my two children. As a father and a scientist, I am often struck by the genuine, unencumbered, and fresh ways my children see and question the world around them. From the mundane—Where do dreams come from?—to the mysterious—What's outside of outer space? My children's natural interrogation of their world is always a fresh reminder of why I fell in love with science in the first place.”

“It would have to be the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel on the day he finished The Triumph of Death, which now hangs in the Prado museum in Madrid. My introduction to Bruegel came when I was 6 years old and became fascinated by a reproduction of one of his paintings in my uncle's home. As I got older and learned to appreciate art, I became passionate about seeing Bruegel's paintings whenever and wherever I had the chance. My favorite is the masterpiece in the Prado, although The Beggars and The Fall of Icarus are also right up there. What a creative genius Bruegel was, whose pulse was on sixteenth century Europe in a unique and extraordinary way!”

“Jonathan Miller, the British humorist, neurologist, writer, and theater director. There's nobody else I know who has so successfully combined an interest in science/medicine and the performing arts. During a day in Miller's shoes, I'd meet lots of interesting, talented people in fields I would normally never encounter. And I'd exercise the right half of my brain, the part that tends to atrophy during a career in science.”