Bronx STEAM

Engaging with the arts can slow biological aging, study shows Eat well and exercise. That's the classic advice for living a long, healthy life. A new study suggests another habit to add to the list: Let your creative juices flow.

“I was not very good in high school. I did all kinds of other things. You could say I was a bit of a rebel. But if you're not a rebel, you aren't questioning anything. If you have a curious mind and a rebellious character, you can be a good researcher even if your grades are not so good. I am the living proof of that!”

At today's Nobel Prize Teacher Summit, chemistry laureate Morten Meldal spoke about the advantages of being a rebellious researcher.

Meldal was awarded the 2022 chemistry prize for the development of click chemistry.

I’m a Black scientist, tired of facing racism and exclusion from academia

"The scientific challenges I encounter are nowhere near as discouraging as the systemic racism I’ve encountered in academia." https://bit.ly/46luxjF

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Eileen Gu was asked if she thinks before she speaks. Her answer touched on neuroplasticity, journaling, and was radically optimistic.

She grew up in San Francisco. She studies at Stanford. She competes for China. In 2025 the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau was set to pay her $6.6 million. She earned $23 million last year from endorsements alone. Her citizenship status has never been publicly resolved.

She is 22 years old. The full quote is below.

"Thank you, Charlotte. That’s very kind. Oh man. Do I think? I think overall I’m just a pensive person. I’m very introspective, I’m an introspective young woman. I spend a lot of time in my head, and it’s not a bad place to be. I journal a lot. I break down all of my thought processes. I think I apply a very analytical lens to my own thinking, and I kind of modify it, because it’s so interesting: you can control what you think. You can control how you think, and therefore you can control who you are.

Especially as a young person, I’m 22, so with neuroplasticity on my side, I can literally become exactly who I want to be. How cool is that? How empowering is that, right?

And so the fact is: I get to become, every day, the kind of person that me at age 8 would revere. Like, I would be obsessed with me today. Are you kidding? I would love me. I think that’s the biggest flex of all time, that younger you can be proud of you today. So I guess for me, it’s like: yes, I spend a lot of time in my own head. Yes, I think a lot. But it’s not really in an egotistical way, it’s in a tinkering, scientist kind of way. I’m always trying to modify. I’m trying to think: how can I be better? How can I approach my own brain the way that I approach my craft of freeskiing, so that I can be better tomorrow than I was today?"

"I want to encourage the next generation and hand over a science enterprise to my successors, which is as good or better than the excellent one I came into as a young scientist."

Astrophysicist George Smoot was brought up by two parents who strongly encouraged his interest in mathematics and physics. When his mother attended school, she occasionally brought Smoot with her to the class. She eventually became a teacher while his father was an engineer.

Smoot studied dual degrees in mathematics and physics but it became clear that he wanted to become a physicist. In 2006, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with John Mather for their work on the cosmic microwave background radiation.

Smoot was born on this day in 1945.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3H36A1T

"I loved math when I was growing up. Nobody in my family was a scientist, but my father loved doing puzzles. So we did a lot of puzzles. I grew up in a small town in Hawaii and I loved the natural environment there. I found myself fascinated by the evolution of plants and animals that survived in that native island environment. This was long before I knew anything about DNA, but I thought it was so interesting that I wondered about the chemistry of natural systems and natural organisms. I decided I wanted to be a chemist."

In our interview with 2020 chemistry laureate Jennifer Doudna, she tells us about her scientific journey: https://bit.ly/2M82Chu