Philosopher-turned-biochemist Yves Barral has a hard time explaining where he’s from. He usually settles for: “I am, for sure, from this planet.” Born in Mexico City to African-born parents, he spent most of his childhood in various parts of France. He currently resides in Zürich, where he runs his own lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and studies the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to understand how highly dynamic systems of cellular components orchestrate division. “Many people go to science with the wish of curing diseases,” he says, but not him. He believes certain problems in biology, such as the prevention of aging, will forever remain unsolvable (see The Gates of Immortality). But science offers a silver lining: “At least, if we cannot change it, it’s a consolation to understand what it is.”
Michelle Fisher never thought she would be knee deep in science every month, but after more ...
