Now, I realize that my alacrity for assembling puzzles is in essence a fascination with the blank space of the puzzle image, a space that represents the absence of knowledge in scientific mysteries, and the piecing together of seemingly disparate pieces that when …show more content…
On my first day, I sat in the corner of a laboratory surrounded by glass beakers, mechanical spinners, and focused graduate students running about in lab coats and latex gloves. Sitting in the midst of “controlled chaos,” as my lab mentor liked to remark, I was awestruck, not by the intricate instruments and their violent noises, but by the sheer amount of progress being done to solve science’s mysteries. While I was timid at first, overwhelmed by the brisk manner of many of the lab workers, I quickly realized they were just like me: inquisitive students searching for the pieces that eluded the scientific community and prevented them from completing the puzzle. Eagerly, I opened my protocol, grabbed a coat and gloves, and began my quest to learn more about the mitochondrial response to a lack of