Although I have never seen a single minute of the Star Trek franchise, Dr. Mohamed Noor still captivated me with his insightful speech about the bridge between science and fiction. I admire his ability to convey concepts of evolution through more relatable literature and media.
Growing up, I watched a lot of video essays from a particular Duke alum: Matthew Patrick, or MatPat, on his YouTube channels. He reviews different aspects of video games, movies, and TV shows, and how accurate their depictions of science and logic are. Thus, sitting through Dr. Noor’s presentation made me feel that same wonder at how you can connect any two dots as long as you’re crazy enough.
His ability to transition from no science to only science while still keeping the audience’s attention is something I strive for since it’s almost impossible to explain my career path and research to friends and family. Although evolution is something rarely taught in the school system, Dr. Noor was able to inform all of us about Darwinism, speciation, and the genetics behind evolution. By using captivating statistics, such as how more Americans believe in witches (21%) than they do in the theory of evolution (15%), which is CRAZY, it allows him to flow into other topics and establish the importance of this field. Additionally, I really like his emphasis on taking initiative, and how much of his career has been based on asking for opportunities. I believe it is important to pursue questions you are passionate about, and one way is to open your own doors.
Although I won’t be able to attend GalaxyCon, I hope to come across Dr. Noor’s work again! And perhaps also learn to convey my science to people not in my field (mostly how to explain to my parents what I plan to do for a living).
