Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing (Wernher von Braun)
Since I was young, I have always been always obsessed with everything alive. The mimosa leaf that wrinkles when touched, the leaf insect that sneakily camouflages into the green or strange microscopic creatures called viruses and bacteria that seem to plague my country with diseases that kill millions. Every life on Earth, to me, presents a mystery. I wished that one day, I could comprehend them all. But the more I learn about the curiosities of the wondrous living world, the more I realize that my dream can never be achieved. It is impossible for one to capture all the beauty of nature, and maybe that vast diversity is where the beauty lies. It is in seeing the unexpected and appreciating all the novelties that await.
Starting on this new journey, I decide to not set any expectation for myself as well as the program. I just want the feeling of coming to lab every day and experiencing something new, something unexpected, something I never think of. It is a joy and an addiction. And that is exactly what I have gotten in the first week in the Sherwood lab. I remember being amazed when I first saw those squiggly C. elegans under a microscope. Then the initial struggles to differentiate the development stages, which were quickly overwhelmed by the ecstasy of an epiphany: Oh, so that’s the renowned anchor cell. Man, the first week was not plain sailing. But if it had been, there would have been nothing to exalt. There was some frustration but there was indeed a lot of excitement and curiosity waiting to be piqued.
So that is the mindset that I am going to adopt for the rest of the journey, that the research is like new territories waiting to be explored. No expectations, thus no disappointment but loads of excitement and a whole interesting world to discover ahead. Really, I can’t wait…
