"Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist"

The movie Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist seemed to bring together everything we have already discussed/observed during class as well as bringing in a slightly new perspective. We have already discussed “productive stupidity” and observed people working in the lab. When we visited the University of Iowa Biochemistry Labs and at lunch with a few professors and graduate students, we learned that working in a lab is hard work, although most of us probably could have told you that from experience. This was especially evident in the movie and I think that the title describes it well. A person basically needs to be obsessed with learning new things and working until he or she finds an answer. The only way one can get to this point is by asking questions, working to solve those questions, and then asking more questions. Without questions, scientists would not have made the progress they have and we won’t continue to make progress. This sense of being obsessed with asking questions and trying to answer them is an aspect I hadn’t really considered before seeing the video. I knew that researchers often spend a lot of time in the lab, but I had never really thought of it as being obsessed, but I think that obsessed is probably the best word that could be used to describe it.

The video gave me even more things to think about as far as doing research as a career. They asked some of the people in the video why they did research and their answers were the typical “it’s interesting,” and “I want to answer questions.” While these are probably my typical go-to answers as well, I think that I will probably need to spend some time really thinking about this question and trying to find my real motivation. As of right now I think that these two answers along with wanting to help others are my main motivators.

Another topic that the video spent a lot of time on was the idea of successes and failures. They made the observation that one often has countless failures before just one success. I have found this to be true in my own research. I have found that learning to accept failure is one of the hardest things for me to do. Because this is so hard for me to do, I really liked how the video pointed out that the difference between success and failure is actually quite small. One may try many of the same things in both successful and failed projects. The successful one just means that you did everything in the correct order. Even though one may fail many times before he or she is successful, it only takes one success to have a breakthrough. This is why one should never give up. That one more experiment could be the one that works. This is still a work in progress for me, but I’m sure it’s something I’ll get used to, especially if I decide to pursue research as a career.

In addition to working on accepting and learning from failure, should I pursue a career in research, I will need to learn how to work more independently. I know that I’m still just a beginner as far as research goes and it’s acceptable for me to ask for guidance from my research mentor and lab partner. They have both told me that they would rather I ask questions, even if it’s just to clarify something, than to proceed without asking and be uncertain. I believe that asking these questions allows one to build confidence in the lab which in turn leads to independence. The people in the video said that they felt much more independent once they got to graduate school and that it was something that took a little bit of time to get used to. They said that they had to learn how to not rely on their advisor so much.  While I’m still not entirely confident or independent in the lab, I feel as though taking this J-term class has helped a lot in those areas. I used to be scared to do anything in the lab without either my lab partner or mentor available for questions, but now there are some things that I am confident in doing completely on my own. Again, this is something that will come with time, but I was reassured by the people in the video and the fact that they said it took them time before they were completely comfortable being independent in the lab.

Overall, I’d think that this movie gave me just a little more insight into what a career in research might be like as well as more things to think about. I’ve definitely enjoyed this J-term, but I think I have a lot of things to consider and think about before I make a final career choice. It’s a good thing I have a little bit of time before I have to make that decision. I’m hoping to continue my research here at Loras as well as apply for several summer research programs next summer, if not this summer. In the meantime, I’ll continue to live in the science hall and be productively stupid.