Allison Doupe was one of those people who somehow seemed immortal. She blazed with brilliant curiosity and warmed those around her with kindness and humor. But the undeniable truth is that cancer can take any of us. When I heard of the UCSF neuroscientist’s death in late October, I was as shocked as though a beloved…
Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” and kittens with mittens, bright-colored Skittles and feeling all smitten, vibrations screaming from taut guitar strings, these are some things that I find pleasing. I have an emotional connection with each item on that list, but only one routinely spills over into my physiology. Well, two if you count the…
As we sat in my car outside a silent movie theater in Los Angeles, my friend anxiously opened a plastic bag containing a white T-shirt she’d slept in for the past three nights. “Does it smell like me?” she asked nervously, gesturing the open end toward my face. I stuck my nose into the bag and inhaled….
The deeply nasal, yet strangely calming voice would echo through my living room, keeping me company during the middle of the night. Each sentence was overstuffed with ideas, like airborne zip files, waiting to be unpacked. I would be utterly absorbed by this voice for hours, lying motionless on the couch in the dark. This…
This past weekend I willingly deprived myself of sleep in order to participate in Science Hack Day in San Francisco. What is a Hack Day? Well, a hack is a quick solution to a problem. Not necessarily pretty, but probably clever. A Hack Day is usually a 48 hour event where people with ideas get together and make…
