A love of science can come from any experience. But for many of us, these experiences and opportunities narrow as we mature. As an undergrad at Pennsylvania State University in the early 1980s, graduate school seemed not only safe and familiar; it seemed like the only choice I had, because I knew I wanted to stay in science. I didn't even think to explore other possibilities, until later.
Daphne Preuss talks of her life-long yearning to understand how nature works. Now Howard Hughes Medical Institute assistant investigator and professor of molecular genetics and cell biology at the University of Chicago, Preuss remembers watching the activity in anthills. "I was always amazed at how each little ant carried [its] little grain," she relates. No one ant could see the big picture. But Preuss gets satisfaction from being part of a larger process of scientific discovery and "knowing that the things we ...
