Possibly Insightful Ramblings

(This post was supposed to be done a couple weeks ago. But seeing as how those two weeks were some of the busiest ones of my existence - although that designation can be applied to almost any week now that I'm at college - blogging somehow dropped out of my priorities list. But now that my tests are over and I should be working on a paper, I've decided it's time.) Two weeks ago I went camping for the first time in my life. But it wasn't just any camping. No, this was legit - 20 science nerds missing two days of class to revel in the beauty and microbiological wonder that is Yellowstone. Our group was easily identifiable amid the hundreds of other visitors during those days - if you heard the words, hydrogen bond, thermophile, or biofilm, you knew you were in the right place. It was definitely one of the few times in my life where microbiological small talk was normal. And I've never had a "smurf" be "pipetting" in any other setting. Ah, the ner...

My last day of summer before moving back to Provo for school. There were nigh unto a million things I wanted to cram in before summer ended - do some more reading, prep more for my classes, work on the honors program, write, sleep, maybe pack. Right. But instead (and perhaps in addition - there's still more time today) I set out with my family to accomplish one of my life goals of hiking Squaw Peak. I had accidentally discovered the trail to Squaw Peak a couple weeks ago while hiking through Rock Canyon with a friend. We explored it and made it to what seemed to be the top - I mean, it started going downhill and there was a huge field of wildflowers. Plus, we had to meet our ride at a certain time so we turned back, only to be informed later that we were half an hour away from the top. But today I was determined to conquer that mountain. It's beautiful! (But right now it kind of makes me sore to look at it.) More beauty As we hiked, all of my concerns and obligation...

As a biologist, I get super excited when I see plants and animals. Like, really. I mean, think about how incredible it is that millions of tiny cells make a flower able to photosynthesize, and little elephant cells give the elephant its trunk. The little storage vacuoles are keeping the lilies turgid so they don't wilt, and the pigments not only make the flowers look gorgeous, but they allow them to use light (LIGHT! Seriously!) to synthesize their food and structural components. Life is nothing short of a miracle, and zoos and gardens make me stand in reverent awe. Earlier this summer my family went to the Hogle Zoo. The zoo had acquired some cute, still-surviving specimens of creatures we thought to be extinct. But my buddy the T-Rex was very much alive. Actually, no. But he tried hard to be. Look at all those little elephant cells! It boggles my mind every time, just thinking about how they work together so perfectly to make an elephant. Look at how different gene...