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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/health-science/eva-vertes/" title="Eva Vertes">
   Click here for Eva’s profile.
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  When you’ve been a prodigy—as Eva Vertes has—age matters a little more than it does to us non-prodigy types. And one of the great things about being part of the SLoS team is that, even though Eva’s videos only run a total of about eight minutes, we actually got to interview her for more than two hours.
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            <figure class="richtext-image full-width"><img alt="Powerful Motivation-evas_grandmother_300.jpg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="360" width="300"
            src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/evas_grandmother_300.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption>
  Eva’s grandmother in the lab (Courtesy Eva Vertes)
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            </figure>
            

<p>
  And while we were interviewing her, Eva told us stories relating to two specific ages—44 and 2.
 </p>
<p>
<strong>
   Story #1:
  </strong>
  Eva is named after her grandmother, also Eva Vertes, a chemist who worked in a diabetes research laboratory. Eva told us that her grandmother “was very passionate about her research…and my grandfather says that there are lots of similarities between her and me. But at 44, she died of cancer of the stomach, so I never got to meet her.” Eva didn’t originally think that she’d switched from Alzheimer’s to cancer research because of her feelings for her grandmother. But she now believes “there is a connection there—in a way, maybe I am doing this partly for her.”
 </p>
<p>
  Watch all four of Eva’s videos here at our site. Ask her your questions in the post below. And then be sure to check out her
  <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/eva_vertes_looks_to_the_future_of_medicine.html">
   TED talk
  </a>
  on her ideas about the future of medicine.
 </p>
</section>
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Powerful Motivation





  
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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/health-science/eva-vertes/" title="Eva Vertes">
   Click here for Eva’s Profile.
  </a>
</p>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q: Gaby
 </h2>
<p>
  Why did you not go to medical school directly after college?
 </p>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Eva Vertes
 </h2>
<p>
  I decided to take two years between finishing undergraduate and beginning medical school to devote fully to medical research. I knew that I wanted to go to medical school during undergraduate, but I was also eager to get a significant amount of research experience.
 </p>
<hr/>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q: Partrick MacCann
 </h2>
<p>
  Hi Eva – Why do scientists continue to think that one target/one drug will actually have an impact on cancer and other diseases. It is obvious from all the research over the decades and evidence from HAART and combination therapy that more than one drug is needed. Why don’t scientists do more to learn the systems of disease and try to modulate (up or down) multiple targets simultaneously. You will probably find that you can use “sub-therapeutic, sub-toxic ” doses of a five, ten, or a dozen drugs and get a much better response, no resistance, an limited toxicity.
 </p>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Eva Vertes
 </h2>
<p>
  There seems to be a trend towards the search for, and use of, combination therapies. It is becoming clear that many diseases – especially cancer – are highly complex and may respond better to a multi-drug approach which targets many different aspects of a disease process. Therefore, scientists are trying to unravel which combination of therapies may work best for treating a certain disease, rather than searching only for a single “magic bullet”.
 </p>
<hr/>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q:Anne Sywilok
 </h2>
<p>
  Hi Eva, I’m trying to get my students interested in science careers by encouraging them to think about what they like to do now and could continue that as an adult in a science career. What were your interests as a child?
 </p>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Eva Vertes
 </h2>
<p>
  As a child, I was interested in animals (especially the “scary” ones such as sharks and snakes) and nature. When I was about 9 years old, I became very interested in the human body and diseases. In general, I was just curious about the world around me. I think that any sort of curiosity as a child is a good beginning to a career in science because science, at least to me, is a continuous exploration of the unknown.
 </p>
<hr/>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q: Peter Byrne
 </h2>
<p>
  There are many studies showing that industrial and household chemicals cause cancer. Risks are not so much personal, as social and economic. Researching treatment is fine, but why is not more effort being made to implement prevention?
 </p>
<h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Eva Vertes
 </h2>
<p>
  Prevention is a very important part of solving the problem of cancer. We are beginning to realize that many things play a role in the initiation and progress of cancer. Clear identification of what exactly causes or increases the chances of cancer are necessary to implement effective preventative measures.
 </p>
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</section>
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Ask Eva Your Questions





  
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<p>
<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/health-science/mark-siddall/" title="Mark Siddall">
   Click here for Mark’s profile.
  </a>
</p>
<p>
  OK, so by now, you’ve probably watched our videos with Mark Siddall. And you know that he’s cooked and eaten some pretty weird stuff (that’s Mark with a glass of snake venom in the photo—he drinks it “shaken, not stirred” just like James Bond!).
 </p>

            <figure class="richtext-image full-width"><img alt="Eating Wild-mark_drinking_venom.jpg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="225" width="300"
            src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/mark_drinking_venom.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption>
  Bottoms Up (Courtesy Mark Siddall)
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<p>
  But Mark also, at least occasionally, cooks and eats foods that aren’t dangerous at all. He told us that he and his young daughter recently improvised a dish made of shrimp, sweet potatoes, onions, ginger, and garlic sauce rolled up in wonton wraps. And that sounds deliciously non-fatal to us. On our set, Mark described his cooking as “ephemeral” and said that each dish he makes “will never be done exactly the same way again” (that, of course, could have something to do with the whole drinking snake venom thing). Regardless, Mark is clearly just as passionate and creative with his cooking “secret life” as he is with his science. And we’d love to have him and his sous-chef/daughter cook us dinner sometime.
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Eating Wild





  
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 <p>
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/physical-science/rich-robinson/" title="Rich Robinson">
   Click here for Rich’s profile.
  </a>
 </p>
 
            <figure class="richtext-image full-width"><img alt="Showing Up-rich_on_set_with_photo_small.jpg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="359" width="168"
            src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/rich_on_set_with_photo_small_D0gXCf7.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption>
  Rich Robinson in our studio.
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 <p>
  When Rich Robinson came to our studio, one thing was abundantly clear—the man was wearing an
  <em>
   amazing
  </em>
  purple shirt. We all loved it so much that we’re getting a bunch of them for our team in the “Science on the Web” bowling league (it can only help—at least we’ll look good…).
 </p>
 <p>
  As we spent more time with Rich, some much deeper truths did emerge:
 </p>
 <p>
  •   For Rich, science is something everyone can do—it isn’t limited to natural born geniuses. And he attributes much of his own success to his willingness—since he was a young boy—to always “work a little bit harder.”
 </p>
 <p>
  -•   Rich talked a lot about the moment when his photographic subjects “show up” and reveal some truth about themselves. We’ve been behind the camera for dozens of interviews, and there’s never any doubt when someone is sharing something real or just going through the motions.  On the set, it felt like Rich was “showing up” big time. We hope that comes across in the videos.
 </p>
 <p>
  After you watch Rich’s videos, be sure to check out his links to learn more about his science and some of his favorite photographers, too. (And if you’re reading this on the homepage, go to
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/secretlife/scientists/rich-robinson/">
   Rich’s individual page
  </a>
  on our site to find those links.)
 </p>
</section>
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Showing Up





  
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 <p>
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/music/alan-sage/" title="Alan Sage">
   Click here for Alan’s Profile.
   <br/>
  </a>
 </p>
 <p>
  Vegetarian Scientist, Alan Sage, spits rhymes on the spot, let’s see how he flows with some of your questions.
 </p>
 <hr/>
 <h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q: Ourcraigsmail
 </h2>
 <p>
  On the topic of genetic basis for vegetarianism, is there more intent in our human genetic makeup to evidence a million years of meat eating, thus vegetarianism is a choice of a higher brain function, or does the genetic evidence suggest that omnivore appetites in our great ancestors were incidental scavenging at best? Also, what other species show a transition from meat eating to vegetarian in their genetic makeups?
 </p>
 <h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Alan Sage
 </h2>
 <p>
  That’s a great question, and one I’m not sure science has answered. A comparative study of vegetarian species to search for a so-called vegetarian gene would be a first step, but I wonder whether one would find this vegetarian gene in humans. I doubt it would be possible to determine who becomes vegetarian based on their genetic make-up since there are so many different levels of vegetarianism, and some people are for many years but then suddenly decide to start eating meat.
 </p>
 <hr/>
 <h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q: Sherry Austin
 </h2>
 <p>
  Alan, if you don’t eat vegetables and you don’t eat meat, what the heck are you eating???? I’ve been called a Jewish mother so you’d better have a good answer!
 </p>
 <h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Alan Sage
 </h2>
 <p>
  Matzah balls!
 </p>
 <hr/>
 <h2 style="color:#993300">
  Q: Ms. Johnson’s Earth Science Class
 </h2>
 <p>
  Hi Alan,
 </p>
 <p>
  My class and I were very impressed with your talents both in science and rapping. Here’s a few questions we had:
 </p>
 <p>
  1) Were you nervous about the science fair?
  <br/>
  2) Do you ever get made fun of because you rap?
  <br/>
  3) Have you ever written your own rap about your science? If so what was it?
  <br/>
  4) What is your view on the baggy pants trend?
  <br/>
  5) Do you preform rap songs in front of people?
 </p>
 <p>
  Looking forward to hearing your response!
 </p>
 <h2 style="color:#993300">
  A: Alan Sage
 </h2>
 <p>
  Hi Ms. Johnson!,
 </p>
 <p>
  To answer your questions:
 </p>
 <p>
  1) A science fair is definitely a nerve-racking experience. Before I went to Intel, I presented my project at NYCSEF (New York City Science and Engineering Fair), and one of my three judges just had it out for me. He was convinced that my project was an example of lab internships taking the soul out of science fair projects. That’s just an isolated incident, but it got me very off-balanced, and just goes to show that students have to be prepared for all kinds of obstacles, but should stay strong and confident anyway!
 </p>
 <p>
  2) Only before people actually hear my raps–I think that’s because I don’t pretend to be something I’m not. As long as you rap about what you know, people respect that.
 </p>
 <p>
  3) As I mentioned below, I haven’t really rapped about science experiments, but I love rapping about the philosophy of science.
 </p>
 <p>
  4) Just wear a long enough white-tee and you’re fine.
 </p>
 <p>
  5) I haven’t performed recently, though I may record a few songs over the summer. During the school year I’ve been focusing a lot on interviewing rappers in New Haven for a book I’m working on about them; some of my interviewees have a discipline in practicing freestyle that I really admire and hope to emulate.
 </p>
 <p>
  Hope that helps!
  <br/>
  -Alan
 </p>
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Ask Alan Your Questions





  
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 <p>
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/environmental-science/katharine-hayhoe/" title="Katharine Hayhoe">
   Click here for Katharine’s profile.
  </a>
 </p>
 <p>
  Is there a connection between climate change and our recent spate of tornadoes? How about between climate change and the flooding Mississippi?
 </p>
 <p>
  Who could possibly address these questions better than our own Climate Change Evangelist,
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/secretlife/scientists/katharine-hayhoe/">
   Katharine Hayhoe
  </a>
  ?
 </p>
 <p>
  All together, folks. NOBODY, THAT’S WHO.
 </p>
 <p>
  Watch Katharine present the facts on the NewsHour. She comes in at about 2:48 in the segment.
 </p>
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It's A Twister!!





  
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 <p>
  <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/secretlife/physical-science/stephon-alexander/" title="Stephon Alexander">
   Click here for Stephon’s profile.
  </a>
 </p>
 <p>
  So I wondered…. Where does science come from?
 </p>
 <p>
  Does it come from Bill Nye the Science Guy? After all, “science” is right there in his name.
 </p>
 <p>
  Or does it come from Google? When I do a Google search for “science,” I get over a billion results. That has to be the mother lode of all scientific thought, right?
 </p>
 <p>
  Good guesses, my friends, but no cigar.
 </p>
 <p>
  These answers can’t be right, because, as remarkable as it may seem, science existed even before Bill Nye the Science Guy and Google were twinkles in their parents’ eyes.
 </p>
 <p>
  Adrift in a harsh, unyielding universe and searching for answers, I looked for help from our new scientist, Stephon Alexander. And he told me where he had found science:
 </p>
 
            <figure class="richtext-image full-width"><img alt="Where Does Science Come From?-stephon_for_blog_1.jpg" class="richtext-image full-width" height="204" width="300"
            src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/stephon_for_blog_1_ffbysBL.width-800.jpg"/><figcaption>
  Young Stephon…
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            </figure>
            
 <p>
  “The roots of me becoming a theoretical physicist started back in the island of Trinidad. I grew up in a village close to Venezuela. So it was on the southern coast of the island, and there was very little light pollution. And as a kid, we believed in things like ghosts, and we called them ‘jumbies’ in Trinidad. So if you’re a kid out at night, and no one has ever told you that the Moon is a moon—a piece of rock in outer space—you might think that it could be a jumbie trying to follow you. That was my big question. Why is this thing, whenever I run away from it, it just continues to follow me? Or why doesn’t it ever come and try to get me? So that kind of question, a natural inquisitiveness, I had, wondering about things, especially the night sky. You know, looking at little insects and trying to distinguish, ‘Okay, what makes this alive when a piece of twig isn’t alive?’ So I used to wonder about these things. And that natural environment of Trinidad, without the light pollution and noise pollution, really provided a good setting for that.”
 </p>
 <p>
  I finally had my answer.
 </p>
 <p>
  Science, it turns out, comes from Trinidad.
 </p>
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Tom Miller

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