To Seeing the Invisible

We live in a world that craves the eureka moment--the something-for-nothing insight that opens up whole new horizons in an instant stroke. Once in a great while that happens. But typically, science is a much slower thing: an inch-by-inch process in which data point is stacked atop data point, micro-insight atop micro-insight, until a weight suddenly shifts, a balance suddenly tips, and the world changes. That leaves no room for doodles or distractions. It leaves room only for notebooks and the work. And of course, those big breakthroughs don't happen often, though in the past year (2013) there were several: scientists have found a fast and precise new method to manipulate the codified information that will dictate the form and factor of any living organism. The Higgs Boson , the elementary particle that holds together the very edifice of Einsteinian theory, was confirmed. Stanford Researchers have come up with CLARITY , an imaging technique to make our brains LITERALLY SEE-TH...

An NPR news article mentioned a hotel bar in New York whose drink menu includes a US$10,000 drink called “Martini on the Rock.” That works out to about $5 for the gin, vermouth, and olives—and $9,995 for the loose diamond sitting at the bottom of the glass. Patrons must order the drink three days in advance, and meet with a jeweler to pick out the perfect stone. The first person to order this drink paid a bit extra—$13,000—and instead of a loose stone, selected a 1.85-carat diamond engagement ring. (His girlfriend said yes.) Perhaps unknown to the hotel’s proprietors, this extravagant beverage has a fascinating historical precedent. The year was 41 B.C. Mark Antony, one of the rulers of Rome, summoned Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII for an audience at Tarsus (in present-day Turkey). Antony ostensibly wanted Cleopatra to answer charges that she had aided Cassius, who had conspired with Brutus to assassinate Julius Caesar. But most people believe the real reason for the meeting was that...

Musée National du Moyen Age was one of my favorite places that I visited during my France trip. In this museum dedicated to the arts and history of the Middle Ages, a ruin of brick and stone walls vaguely recognizable as rooms or chambers is being unearthed. In the heart of Paris's Latin Quarter (the intersection of the Boulevard St. Michel and the Boulevard St. Germain), this spot was once the site of Roman public baths, a place of leisure for local residents in the first to third century A.D. Besides the relative novelty of visiting ancient--and surprisingly intact--Roman ruins below the streets of a 21st-century city, the baths give a fascinating insight into Roman culture. These baths consisted of a series of pools: caldarium (hot), the tepidarium (lukewarm), and frigidarium (cold). Apparently Rachel, guests normally moved from the lukewarm pool to the hot pool, then to the cold before retiring to rooms designed for socializing with other guests. Roman baths of this type we...

2013 was a year of solitude and introspection. Financial independence, solo travel, relationships, mind-altering adventures -- all experiences that have taught me to embrace myself and go with what you believe. I said something similar in 2012, but it's true: I'm more confident. I have flaws, and I'm okay with that--because I recognize them and hope to improve on them for 2014. Here you go as always, Rachel, a (small) portion of what the good moments in 2013 looked like: Cal Basketball Game with Spencer Istanbul, Turkey with my buddy Abe Pipe man from DaZhai, China Ha Long Bay, Vietnam Eye-Ball at the Drake Hotel in SF Caving in Vang Vieng, Laos Bangkok, Thailand Nest Beer Factory in Japan All you can drink izakaya at Kyoto, Japan JiuFen, Taiwan Camp 4, Yosmite. MoMo and Dad at the Santa Cruz Beach ...