So it was with great surprise that I found her just the other day peddling sunglasses, floppy hats, and zinc oxide ointment on the steamy streets of Washington, D.C. At first she pulled down her terry cloth hat (emblazoned with portraits of the Washington Monument) and tried to avoid my eye so I wouldn't recognize her. But the lab coat gave her away.
"I thought you were searching for the super-ceramic of your dreams," I said.
She glanced furtively around before reply ing. "Ceramics are dead. Superconductivity's peaked. It was time to get out. Who wants to be in such a passé field?"
"You don't look like you've exactly moved on to the next big thing in Big Science."
She managed to look both offended and superior, no mean feat while wearing Mickey Mouse sunglasses.
"It might just be the biggest Big Science project of them all. I'm working on ...
