Becky Ward and a bar

After the iGEM Jamboree Becky and I went to a local pub for a drink and I got a look at my own stereotypes. On some deep, crude level I have this idea that scientists are not particulary self-reflective or self-aware, but Becky is both. We talk a lot about work, life, relationships, etc, and she's very astute. Perhaps that's why she moved away from research and into management. Hmmm. But many of the folks here seem more than 'just scientists', which is refreshing.

Genetically engineered machine competition

Woke up early today to attend the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) Jamboree, held at MIT. This whole new fascinating field called synthetic biology aims to create new biological parts using engineering methodology; to use DNA to create logic gates, counters, and other circuits, much the way you would design a computer chip. The Jamboree is a informal competition among university students who spend their summer designing and creating bacterial machines. The students are from all over the world, with teams from Boston, California, England, and Zurich among others.

I came to observe, and was quickly recruited to be on the jury. They give a few serious prizes and a few funny prizes to each teach---I could only hope they wanted my opinion on the latter. So I was flattered but this meant I had to actually pay attention. One team tried to make bacteria perform a relay race, another worked on a multiplexor, another on a line-detector.
Eight hours listening to a language you only half understand is exhausting! By the end I was pretty glazed, but we had fun in the jury room.

Since I started calling myself an artist about four years ago, I've been aware of people projecting their notion of 'artist' onto me. I had to wake up quite early to get to the jamboree, quickly showered and threw on my clothes. I was pretty social at the event, talking to lots of advisors and students, and generally trying to be friendly and engaged. At lunch time I went to the bathroom and realized that my shirt was on backwards! Label sticking up, collar messed up, buttons facing the wrong way--and nobody said anything. They just assumed that it was the kind of thing an artist does. Becky did notice, but only mentioned it after I had switched the shirt back. This gives me a tremendous amount of freedom! What can I get away with next?