I want to share with you a compelling personal essay that stands out not only for its captivating, raw honesty but because it's the kind of perspective on science that you don’t often read. In contrast with the excitement over the recent Nobel Prize announcements, this piece offers something more nuanced. It takes you deep inside the world inhabited by so many scientists: prosaic and at times isolating, but also punctured by moments of wonder.
At STAT, we like to say we're reporting at the frontiers of medicine, health, and scientific discovery. Yet there's often little glamour on the front lines. This essay by a young writer and former STAT intern, Justin Chen, lets us in on that truth, and how his own monomania over science affected his personal life. Justin writes of obsessively laboring for six years in an MIT lab trying to understand the intricacies of frog embryos; his adviser had a saying: “You have to believe that Sisyphus was happy.”
We're not any less enthusiastic about recognizing the eye-popping work that happens every day in labs and at hospitals and on university campuses. Last week, we introduced you to STAT's 2018 Wunderkinds, 30 of the most impressive doctors and researchers across North America who are just launching their careers. Most are postdocs, fellows, and biopharma employees. They were picked by STAT editors and reporters from hundreds of nominations. You can read about the winners here.
I hope you'll continue to turn to STAT for enlightening and provocative news, features, narratives, and multimedia that you can't find anywhere else. Watch out Tuesday for a narrative by staff writer Eric Boodman about a scientist who, at 80, was lured out of retirement by the Navy to commercialize phage therapy, a long-abandoned idea for treating the fiercest infections.
If you don't already, I encourage you to try our bounty of free newslettersand download our app. If you’re one of our most devoted readers, please support our journalism by signing up for STAT Plus, which goes even deeper into the worlds of medicine, pharma, and biotech.
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any feedback. I'm at rick.berke@statnews.com.
I hope you are enjoying your Sunday.
Best,
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