Eat, Sleep, and Breathe

The other day I was walking home from my usual bus stop after a wonderfully long day of sitting in the little dark microscope box room and had to do a double-take at the graffiti on the floor. I immediately thought "oh, look, a neuron!" Regardless of  its multiple (beautiful) dendrites, it was, in fact, not a neuron. On second look, I don't think it was even an intentional graffiti, merely a splatter of spray paint next to some inane tag.
This is not the first time this has happened. I see neurons on bumper stickers and glial cells in art work in restaurants. (Actually, I'm still pretty convinced that last one really was an abstract version of neural networks, but who knows). Am I obsessed? Maybe I'm more haunted by my work rather than obsessed. Perhaps, it's a nice unhealthy mixture of both. I suppose all good scientists are somewhat consumed by their work, that they see cell types in cloud formations, or mechanisms in their dreams.

Nevertheless, it reminds me how hopelessly geeky I am. But, never fear, little scientists, we are not alone. Tthe ever amusing author Mary Roach (author of 'Bonk,' 'Spook,' and 'Stiff' to name a few) speaks to this quite nicely in her intro to 'Bonk:'

"I am obsessed with my research, not by nature but serially: book by book and regardless of topic. All good research-- whether for science or for a book-- is a form of obsession. And obsession can be awkward. It can be downright embarrassing."