The beautiful, fascinating and often perplexing world around us grows from intricate and convoluted interactions of millions of pieces. As scientists, we work to understand and describe the parts and interactions of these systems. Scientific understanding is only as good as the questions we ask. Observing the world from a variety of viewpoints and asking […] … learn more→

One of the best-known facts in biology is that, in sexual species like ours, to generate a new living being, a female and a male gamete are necessary. That is, an egg and a sperm. The theory is simple: during fertilization, the sperm penetrates the egg or oocyte and activates it. The oocyte is the one that […] … learn more→

It would be quite appropriate for a college professor to assume students know that a tree is alive and a rock is not. Or would it? For several summers, I have had the pleasure of teaching biology to Tibetan Buddhist monks exiled in India. This program, called the ETSI (Emory-Tibet Science Initiative), was sparked by discussions the Dalai […] … learn more→