Melanie Peffer Transcript
Hello, and welcome to Ask a Scientist, the podcast for kids, and adults to ask scientists questions about anything they want to know. There are so many scientists out there doing a lot of cool scientific research. In the news, we’re constantly hearing about scientists and their new ideas and where those ideas are going to take us in the future. But just who are those scientists? In this podcast, we will learn a little bit more about who they are and what inspires them as scientists. I’m your host, Victoria Crystal. Every other week, I’ll sit down with a different scientist, and ask them questions written by you, the listeners, and by students from classrooms throughout the country. Hope you all had a wonderful New Year and a great start to the year 2021.
Victoria:
Hello listeners. Welcome back to the next episode of Ask a Scientist. Our guest this week is Dr. Melanie Peffer. She is a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and the author of an awesome book called Biology Everywhere.
Dr. Peffer. Thank you so much for being here today.
Dr. Peffer:
Thank you for having me. I’m super excited to chat with you today.
Victoria:
We are excited to hear all of your answers to the questions.
Before we get started with the questions from the listeners, would you explain a little bit about who you are and what you do and why?
Dr. Peffer:
So I really interested in how people learn biology. And so I wrote my book Biology Everywhere, and I teach biology to college students, and I also do research and help people learn biology too. And what I really want to do is help other people get excited about biology. I’ve run into too many people who look at me and say, no, I can’t do it, I’m not smart enough, I’m not good enough. And my answer is always, yes, you are. Yes, you can. And so that’s why I wrote Biology Everywhere, that’s why I teach biology, and that’s why I do research on biology because I really want to help get other people excited about biology.
Victoria:
(Michael – How did you get interested in biology?)
Awesome. Well, we have some fantastic biology questions to ask you today. These questions were submitted by listeners through emails and on social media.
This first question comes from Michael. Good question to start off with, I think. How did you get interested in biology?
Dr. Peffer:
I’ve always been interested in how things work. And I’ve just naturally gravitated more towards biology, you know, being little and interested in animals and going to the zoo.
And then in sixth grade I had a wonderful science teacher, and I’ll never forget it. She brought in monarch caterpillars to the classroom. And so we were able to watch them over a few weeks and see them, you know, develop their chrysalis and eventually, you know, metamorphose into butterflies. And we were asked to bring in milkweed to the classroom cause that’s what monarch butterflies eat. And it just, it just really stuck out in my mind, just being so interesting and so cool.
And then, you know, just, I took more biology classes after that, and then majored in biology in college, and just got more and more excited about it. As the more I learn, the more excited I got.
Victoria:
(Ava – Why did you pick biology over the other sciences?)
That’s awesome. This is a good follow-up to that from Ava. Why did you pick biology over the other sciences?
Dr. Peffer:
It just clicked with me more. That’s not to say as a biologist, I don’t still do a lot of chemistry or still run into physics every once in a while. But biology was the one that just made me excited and made the most sense, kind of looking around and seeing it as part of my life.
Victoria:
(Spencer – What is your favorite thing to teach people about biology?)
Awesome. And Spencer wants to know, what is your favorite thing to teach people about biology?
Dr. Peffer:
My favorite thing to teach people is both it. Yes, they can do biology and get excited about it. And content-wise, I love cell signaling. So that’s how cells talk to one another, and it has always fascinated me how there’s this ballet going on in our bodies that we don’t even think about of ourselves talking to one another, to make sure that we can digest food or talk or think. It’s just amazing to me how our cells talk to one another.
Victoria:
(Sydney – What have you found out about how people learn and understand biology?)
That’s cool. We have a question later on about some of our human biology, so maybe we can get into that a little bit more.
Our next several questions are about how people learn and how you teach biology to people. And so this first question in that category comes from Sydney. What have you found out about how people learn and understand biology?
Dr. Peffer:
So Sydney, this is a great question. And I think the most interesting thing I’ve learned is how important feeling like you’re a scientist is, to really understanding biology. People who feel like they aren’t a science person or feel like they’re not smart enough to do it, have a lot harder time learning. And so if we help people to feel like they are a science person, then it’s so much easier for them to learn and understand biology.
Victoria:
Awesome. That makes sense. And what are some ways, this isn’t one of the student’s questions, this is just for me. What are some ways that you do that to make people feel more like a scientist?
Dr. Peffer:
Well, with my book, it’s about making science accessible by presenting it as being relatable. Because we do biology every day. We interact with biology every day. We make biologically minded decisions every day. There’s so much more than just the classroom. And I think when people realize what they do and understand every day, suddenly it’s just like, oh yeah, I do put yeast in my bread when I’m making bread, and I do see those bubbles. Or, you know, you may, I make pancakes with my son, and I was let him put the baking powder in, and we look for the bubbles. And it’s like, well, you know, that’s chemistry, and that’s biology, and it’s really interesting. Or yogurt for morning in the breakfast. Why does yogurt taste tangy? Oh, it’s because there’s bacteria in there and they give it that tangy flavor.
And I think once we realize all the ways that we do it, then it’s really easy to be like, oh yeah, I am a science person; oh yeah. I do science every day.
Victoria:
(Ellie – Do kids and adults learn differently?)
Yeah. That makes sense. Now that I’m thinking about it. Yeah, there’s a lot of biology. And we have a whole section of questions all about everyday biology for you.
This is our next question about learning and teaching science. Ellie wants to know do kids and adults learn differently.
Dr. Peffer:
This is another great question, Ellie, because I would say that kids and adults learn differently, and different kids and different adults learn differently too.
So there’s just different ways things click for us. Just like there’s different teachers that we clicked better with than others. But we all have different ways of thinking about the world, and because we all have different ways of thinking about the world that are shaped by our experiences, we all learn it a little bit differently.
Victoria:
(Akeem – What do you mean by biology everywhere?)
All right. And now we’ll get into a bunch of questions all about Biology Everywhere. To start us off, we’ve got a question from Akeem. What do you mean by Biology Everywhere?
Dr. Peffer:
So when I say Biology Everywhere, it’s good to get that of every experience you can name over the course of your day, there’s probably some kind of biological principle going on.
Starting from the moment you wake up in the morning. So when sunlight hits your eyes, it sets off a whole bunch of chemical reactions in your body that help to wake you up. So, you know, getting hungry, going into the bathroom. I mean, all of this stuff happens and it’s triggered just because light hits our eyes. That’s why, you know, you put curtains in your bedroom because if you’re at a part of the world where it gets sunny at five o’clock in the morning, and you don’t want to get up that early, we want to make sure you block that light. That’s also why in the evening, you’re not supposed to be on the computer or the TV because the blue light coming from the computer screens tricks your body into thinking that it’s early in the morning and it’s time to get up. So that’s why it’s not a good idea to be on your phone in the evening because it’s telling your body it’s time to be awake.
And so it’s little things like that. We usually don’t think about, you know, the sun coming in the morning, or why we shouldn’t look at our phones in the evening, or where our food comes from, or where are we get energy, or why our kids look like us. That’s Biology Everywhere.
Victoria:
(Vaughn -What do you mean by the biology of food?)
That is very cool.
All right, let’s see here. Oh, and this question is based on what you wrote in the bio that the listeners had to think of their questions. And this question is from Vaughn. What do you mean by the biology of food?
Dr. Peffer:
The biology of food is interesting, and there’s two ways of thinking about it. So there’s the biology of how we eat and use what we eat to make energy. So it’s where we get our energy from. And then also the various ways that we make food.
And how it’s interesting. We keep things in the fridge because we don’t want, you know, mold to grow in our strawberries or whatever, but there’s food that we intentionally spoiled. So things like blue cheese have a certain mold that’s introduced to them. It makes us blue veins that we see and it makes blue cheese tastes great. But it’s an example of when we’ve intentionally let food spoil because we liked the way it tastes. So fermented beverages like kombucha, wine, beer, champagne. That’s all created because of the intentional introduction of microorganisms in the food. Yogurts, another one, any leavened breads, sourdough bread, that great sour taste that you get is from yeast.
Victoria:
Wow, that’s cool. And this is again, just a question that I’m thinking of. Why is it that some intentionally spoiled foods taste really good? But then like when something’s in the fridge and it goes bad, it doesn’t have that nice, like sour tangy tastes, that the intentionally spoiled foods.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah. That’s a great question. And it comes down to what is spoiling the food and a matter of taste.
So kimchi. Not my favorite. That’s a fermented food. I think it’s gross. It just tastes bad to me. Like yogurt tastes really bad to my husband, but I love yogurt. So some of it’s a little bit of a matter of taste.
And some of it is that there’s microorganisms that are okay to have in our food. So like the bacteria that’s in yogurt is really, really good for us. It helps keep our microbiota and our gastrointestinal system healthy. Whereas other bacteria like the salmonella that’s on chicken can make you really, really sick. So we don’t want that kind of bacteria on our food.
Victoria:
Yeah, that makes sense.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah. And then there’s also like, there’s, I can’t remember the name of it, there’s a specific yeast strain that’s only found in San Francisco, and that’s the yeast strain they used for making San Francisco sourdough bread and it gives it that very unique flavor that’s different from the yeast that we can just go buy at the supermarket.
Victoria:
Oh, and that’s why it tastes so good.
Dr. Peffer:
It’s so good. Yes.
Victoria:
(Joe – What is the connection between music and human biology?)
(Joe -Why are humans attracted to certain rhythms and sounds in music?)
All right. I think we might have another food question coming up later on in the questions, but for now, we’re going to switch gears a little bit. There’re two questions from Joe about music. What is the connection between music and human biology? And why are humans attracted to certain rhythms and sounds in music?
Dr. Peffer:
Great question. So this is actually one of my favorite chapters in the book is on music and the arts and biology. Because I think too often, we think of them as being separate when they’re really not.
And so when it comes to music and human biology, there’s two ways that this goes because biology can tell us about our experience with music. So just a second question about why are we attracted to certain rhythms and sounds and music. And when we hear a piece of music, that’s really moving to us. That’s because there’s a rush of dopamine that’s happening in our system. And dopamine is a chemical in our brains, it’s a neurotransmitter. And if you block dopamine release, we don’t get chills when we listen to music anymore. And if you increase dopamine release, then it feels even more amazing to listen to music.
And so. And it’s not even just that too, but when we play music as a group, you know, there’s been research showing that people who sing together as synchronizing their heart rates. And then if we listen to music while we’re running or working and actually improves our performance. And how important music education is for child development, because it helps with developing executive function. So if you think of executive function as being like an executive in your brain, that’s what’s controlling your ability to plan and make decisions and to stay on task; it helps with motor development, so learning to use your hands.
So there’s a lot with music and just the human experience. But also the arts has really influenced some of the biggest discoveries ever made in biology. So an example that I often give is Santiago Ramon y Cajal. He’s the father of neuroscience. And he wanted to be an artist. He did not want to be a biologist, he did not want to go to school for that, and he wanted to be an artist. And his dad at the time said, no, you’re going to go be a doctor. And, but he never lost that love of art. And so he was doing work with early microscopes and they were trying to figure out, you know, what structures look like. And he was drawing pictures, looking under the microscope. And one of the structures he was looking at was the brain. And he came up with a new way to stain the brain. And he started drawing all these pictures of neurons and came to the conclusion that the brain and our nervous systems are made up of individual cells. And that was very radical at the time. They used to think that it was just, you know, like one big super highway, not individual cells. But that eventually became the neuron doctrine. It’s the foundation for all modern neuroscience. He went on to win the Nobel Prize for it too. But is that art science connection right there that led to that big discovery.
Victoria:
Wow. That’s phenomenal. That’s just incredible. I’ve never thought about music and biology and the brain or art or anything. And that’s, it’s just blowing my mind.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that also helps make biology more accessible when we see how it’s related to other things in our life that we love. And I think the arts really serves as a wonderful bridge between things that people connect with and biology which people feel, I think, abstract from.
Victoria:
Yeah. And I think that too explains, I run so much better when I’m listening to my workout playlist that I’ve like specifically curated of songs that I like and I enjoy, and like make me think when I listened to them. And so I run better than if I just listened to music that, or like a podcast where it’s not music. That’s really interesting.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, absolutely. And I don’t think I can’t run and listen to podcasts. I can walk, but I can’t run. I have my music that I have to listen to while I’m running, and I have different music that I listened to while I’m working, and it just works.
Victoria:
(Jon – How do emotions affect human biology?)
Yeah. Definitely.
All right. And I think you touched on this a little bit in talking about music, but this is a question from Jon. How do emotions affect human biology?
Dr. Peffer:
This is another really interesting question, because a lot of our emotions have to deal with neurotransmitters too.
And so when the balance of those neurotransmitters, those chemicals in our brain get off, that can lead to people feeling very, very sad all the time or being depressed, or feeling very, very anxious all the time and having anxiety.
And then there’s also a little bit about how, how we regulate our emotions and attitudes, and that can also affect our biology as well as the ability to like, if we’re really nervous about something, taking deep breaths helps lower heart rate or our respiration rate and bring our blood pressures down. So that’s a way that we can use our biology to regulate our emotions a little bit better and send those cues to our body that maybe nervous, but I’m going to be okay. All right. Let’s get back to it.
Victoria:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. As someone who, who struggles with anxiety, when I think about the biology of it, it really helps me to, deal with and understand what’s going on in my brain and why I’m feeling certain ways.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, I can certainly relate to. I think it’s easier if we understand biologically what’s happening to us. So that fight or flight response, you know, that, what that means is that your body’s being flooded with hormones that make you ready to run, and then you have to realize, Oh, there’s nothing, there’s nothing chasing me. Or the threat is gone, whatever it is, and then you can help calm yourself back down, and be like, all right, now I’m going to bring my cortisol levels back down cause everything’s okay now.
Victoria:
(Will – What is the most surprising way that biology affects our daily lives?)
Yeah. I think that definitely helps.
All right. This is a really fun question from Will. What is the most surprising way that biology affects our daily lives?
Dr. Peffer:
This is a hard one for me, because I think all of it is really fun and surprising and exciting. But I think what surprises people the most is when I talk about how biology interfaces with other disciplines. So that music and biology thing that we were just talking about, I think gets people really excited. And it’s really surprising for people.
When people learn that biology and all science is really creative, we have this image in our mind, you know, it’s just like one scientist and it’s very dry and boring and it’s really not. There’s so much failure that goes on. It’s incredible how often scientists fail. And when you start learning about those failures and the challenges, the ways people got it around those challenges and see how incredibly creative it is, I think that’s always been the most surprising thing for people.
Victoria:
Yeah, I hadn’t thought about that, but yeah, that is definitely, that would definitely do it. I was, I was surprised when I became a scientist, how many times the first hypothesis I tested was wrong.
Dr. Peffer:
You’re wrong more often than you’re right. Someone told me that when I started graduate school, they’re like, you know, you’re, everything you write in your dissertation will be generated in the like, the last six to 12 months. I’m like, well, what do you do the rest of the time? It’s was like, Oh, you spend the rest of the time being wrong, and troubleshooting, and trying to figure out what went wrong. And then when you finally figure it out, that’s about when you’re done with school.
Victoria:
(Tim – What is the weirdest way that biology affects our daily lives?)
Yeah.
All right. This is another fun, kind of related question from Tim. What is the weirdest way that biology affects our daily lives?
Dr. Peffer:
I think the weirdest way is how we can affect each other. There’s a lot of different ways that that can happen. But I think a lot of immunology and stuff we’ve learned just with the pandemic is kind of weird too, about how much we really do pass germs around. Cause it’s interesting ever since the shutdown earlier this year, nobody in my house has been sick. And it’s like, okay, I didn’t realize how disgusting everybody was before this. Things are clean and we’re wearing masks and no one’s had a cold or anything. And it’s like, Oh, we all just a big pile of germs walking around aren’t we? And so I think that could be weird.
I think when people realize how much of our food as intentionally had microorganisms put in, it can be a little weird sometimes as well.
Victoria:
Yeah. Yeah. Both of those are very, very fun, very weird. but I’ve definitely had that thought recently. Like, why am I sneezing? Is it allergies? Or do I have a cold? Oh, wait, I haven’t been around another person in a very long time. It can’t be a cold.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, exactly. It’s just, it’s interesting. You don’t realize how closely interacting you are with other people until we see something like this when we’re all being super, super cleanly. And it’s, it’s just interesting to kind of, I wonder what that’s going to mean going into the future when people are on city buses or whatever, how it’s going to change, how we interact with each other. And when we realize how close of contact we really are, even if you’re not touching another person.
Victoria:
(Ashley – What is your favorite way that biology affects our daily lives?)
Yeah. Yeah.
All right. And this is another really fun question from Ashley. What is your favorite way that biology affects our daily lives?
Dr. Peffer:
My favorite way is genetics. And I have a three-year-old son and he’s the best. I love him to death. And it’s just really neat when he looks at me and gives me my own facial expressions back, or a facial expression from my husband or from my grandmother and just, it’s so weird. I look at his hands and he has my exact fingers. And it’s just fascinating to me how all of that happened.
And he’s my biological child, so I got to experience pregnancy and that’s just a whole amazing biology experience in and of itself about how all the hormones work, and how the placenta works, and how the baby grows, and how the baby shifts, and how the baby turns to come out. And I think having a child has been one of the coolest biology experiences of my entire life.
Victoria:
(Ciara – Are humans evolving biologically?)
That’s awesome. So cute.
All right. And speaking of genetics, that leads in really well to the next several questions. Sierra wants to know are humans evolving biologically.
Dr. Peffer:
So this is a hard one to answer because the evolution is just a naturally occurring process. You know, it happens because we have variability in our genes and that there’s different evolutionary pressures. However, we have modern medicine. And that’s changing things a little bit. And I think it’s harder to answer this question. It’s also hard to answer because evolution and humans happens over so many generations, and so you’d need such a long period of time to actually be able to see it, that’s harder to say. Because we can certainly see biological evolution happening in bacteria or flies or anything that has that really short generation time.
So it’s hard to answer that question, but one example that I usually go to is that we see a lot of evidence that humans have evolved biologically whether that’s, you know, the presence of a tailbone or wisdom teeth, that’s the other example that I usually go to. And it’s interesting is when we think about the variability, there’s people who don’t have wisdom teeth. I’m super jealous of them because I hadn’t had my wisdom teeth out. It was a very unfortunate, difficult, not fun procedure. And so I think if we didn’t have modern medicine and we waited for long enough, we might see more and more of those people who don’t have wisdom teeth, that becoming more common than people who do have their wisdom teeth.
Victoria:
Yeah. One of my favorite things to think about in the way that humans are different than the way that we consider evolution of other organisms. My mom doesn’t have wisdom teeth, and this was, you know, back in the day when the dental industry was not as good as it is today. Her older sister had real, real struggles with getting her wisdom teeth out. And so before my mom went to college, her dentist just pulled her back molars to make room for when the wisdom teeth came in, and then she doesn’t have them and so they never came in. And so my mom doesn’t have the very back set of molars either.
Dr. Peffer:
Wow. That’s frustrating. I wonder how many of our listeners will have had a panorex done because they’re doing that with young kids now. So that’s when the external machine goes around your head in a big circle.
Victoria:
Yeah. Yeah. So you can see the wisdom teeth in that.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah. Yeah. So if you’re listening, tell us if you’ve seen your wisdom teeth.
Victoria:
(Joe – Are there known human genetic mutations affecting or changing human biology?)
Yes. Awesome.
All right. And our next genetics question comes from Joe. Are there known human genetic mutations affecting or changing human biology?
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, Joe, this is a great question. There’s a lot of genetic mutation, so that’s anytime our DNA changes. And this just happens. It’s just a normal biological process. There’s certain things that make more mutations happen. That’s what we always wear sunscreen when we go outside because the UV radiation from the sun can actually cause genetic mutations. And if you get enough of the wrong kind of genetic mutations that can lead to getting cancer. So there’s a lot of things that we do to try to avoid it, even though some of them are perfectly natural.
There are genetic mutations that we know affect certain diseases like cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in the CFTR gene. And you may have heard about the BRCA mutations. And so people who have the BRCA mutations have a higher risk of getting breast cancer when they’re young. So it doesn’t mean they’ll get breast cancer. It just means they have a higher chance of it.
But then there’s also different mutations that lead to different eye color, different skin color, different hair color. There’s a lot of variability there, and that’s also what makes genetics so interesting.
Victoria:
(Anonymous listener – How to gain research experience as an undergrad in biology, how would like to pursue a career somewhere like Noaa?)
That is very cool.
This question comes from an anonymous listener, submitted on the website. How would I gain research experience as an undergrad in biology and how would I pursue a career somewhere like Noaa?
Dr. Peffer:
I think that best way to get research experience is to go out and ask, and look around. I think one of the best parts about being a student is that there are so many opportunities to shadow, to get the research experience. There’re summer programs for high school students, as well as undergraduates, and post-baccalaureate students as well. There’s so much out there for students and so many opportunities to get experience.
And so I would encourage this person or anybody else who’s listening, if they want to get research experiences, just to start looking and start asking around. You know, if there’s a university nearby, you reach out and say, hey, do you do a summer program for high school students? Could I participate?
Victoria:
Awesome. Yeah, some of my best research and professional opportunities have come just because I’ve made the first move quote unquote and said, hey, I’m interested in this, are you hiring, do you have any opportunities for volunteer researchers or research assistants? So.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, absolutely. It’s something I tell a lot of my students too is like, just ask, just ask. The worst thing someone’s going to say to you is no. But if you just go out and ask, it will be like, yeah, sure, come work with me for the summer. I mean, I got my first position in a lab, it was a zebrafish lab, and I saw the PI of the lab walking down the hall, pushing a cart full of zebrafish. And I said, Oh, hey you’re so and so, I emailed you, can I join your lab? And she was like, yes, let’s meet. You know? And I ended up spending two and a half years working with her.
Victoria:
(Ryan – I have a question on sex ratio. I’m curious to why more males are born than females a year and why? Also if more males are born than females, doesn’t that mean eventually men will severely outnumber women?)
Oh, that’s awesome.
Okay. And this is another question that was submitted from the website. This is a question from Ryan. Ryan says I have a question on sex ratio. I’m curious to why more males are born than females and why? Also if more males are born than females, doesn’t that mean eventually men will severely outnumber women?
Dr. Peffer:
So, Ryan, this is an interesting question. And so whether males or females are born depends on if dad passes on his X or his Y chromosome. So women are generally XX. There are some exceptions to that rule in interesting genetic conditions, but generally speaking, women have two X chromosomes and men have an X and a Y. And so mom can only pass on an X offspring, but dad could give either an X or Y. So it should be 50 50 male vs female.
The one example I can think of where they’re skewed sex ratios is in zebrafish. And fish are really severely inbred, they have a tendency to go male. And so you can end up with tanks of fish, mostly male fish, because they’ve been so inbred. If that’s happening with humans, I don’t know as much about it. If it’s happening with humans, I’m not sure, but it’s definitely a phenomenon that happens with fish.
Victoria:
Interesting. And isn’t there something in crocodiles and alligators that the temperature of the eggs determines the sex?
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah. Yes. Yep. That’s another interesting biological quirk, how the temperature can affect it.
Victoria:
(Tim – How many pages is your book?)
That’s cool.
All right. And now we have a bunch of questions about your book. Students are very curious. So this first question comes from Tim. How many pages is your book?
Dr. Peffer:
It’s about 240 pages, and that includes everything. The table of contents, the references, the chapters.
Victoria:
(Brooke – How long did it take you to write a whole book?)
(Tim – Did you read your book after you wrote it?)
Nice.
And Brooke wants to know how long did it take you to write a whole book?
Dr. Peffer:
So that’s an interesting question, Brooke. Cause the actual writing only took me a few months, but I had been thinking about it for quite a while before that. And the editing, the editing and the proofreading is what takes so long. That took of a few months just on its own was to go through it very carefully and make sure there weren’t mistakes in there to fix the grammar. This gets at the next question on our list about if I read the book after I wrote it. Oh, I’ve read it many times, many, many times, trying to make sure that the sentences worked correctly, that I had all the examples in there that I wanted, that there weren’t any spelling errors.
Victoria:
(Becca – What advice do you have for other scientists writing a book?)
Yeah, that is always the hardest part of writing.
All right. yeah, so we covered Tim’s question. Did you read your book after you wrote it?
And then Becca wants to know what advice do you have for other scientists writing a book?
Dr. Peffer:
My advice to other scientists writing a book or to anybody who wants to write a book or anything else is to just write.
If you have an idea, write it, just, just do it, and be accepting of the fact that it’s not going to be perfect. So in spite of how many times I read my book, it’s still not perfect. And having an imperfect book that’s published that people are reading and being excited about is so much better than a nearly perfect book that you never publish.
And so those are my two pieces of advice. If you have an idea, write it. There’s too many reasons to not do it. You know, society’s telling us things or we’re telling us things, or I’ve talked to people who are coming up with rules about, I can’t possibly write this book because I don’t have access to a library. And it’s like, you can write your book. So don’t, don’t let, don’t hold yourself back. Don’t come up with imaginary rules. If you have an idea, just write it. And if you’re worried about it being perfect, nothing’s perfect. You can find New York Times best sellers on the market that have mistakes. So, go for it. You want to do it? Go for it.
Victoria:
(Arriae – What is your favorite animal and why?)
That is great advice. I love that.
Okay. This is a section of questions all about you. Arriae wants to know what is your favorite animal and why?
Dr. Peffer:
Hmm. I love cats, in any shape or form. The big cats, little cats. I’ve always just really been attracted to cats. I think the coat colors are really pretty. I like that they’re soft. I like that they pur. I think cats are great fun.
Victoria:
Cats are the best. My cat, he was being very friendly earlier today. I definitely thought he was going to make an appearance on this zoom call, but I think he finally settled in for his afternoon nap.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah, my cat is having her afternoon nap. I can hear her snoring from here.
Victoria:
(Will – What is your favorite piece of biology?)
All right.
This is another question about you from Will. what is your favorite piece of biology?
Dr. Peffer:
I love molecular biology. So that’s the biology of little things: that’s the genetics that we’ve talked about already; that cell signaling; that’s that orchestration of how things work in ourselves and in our bodies to make all things work. Those little molecular machines have is what has really fascinated me and why I wanted to be a molecular biology major in college, and then eventually getting a PhD in molecular biology.
I love the little side of it. I liked the big picture stuff and doing biology everywhere, but I’ve never ceased to be amazed by cell signaling, for example.
Victoria:
(Gabriela – If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?)
Awesome.
And this is our very last question from Gabriella. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Dr. Peffer:
Oh, this is a hard one because I love to travel so much. I feel like I need to give a biology answer. I’d love to see the rainforest. I would really like to see the rainforest. I’d really like to go hiking in the Alps. Seen plenty of pictures and it’s just like, man, that just looks like an amazing place to be.
And if I could go anywhere, again that’s very biologically relevant, it would be to go back to the Daintree rainforest in Queensland, Australia. And the Daintree rainforest is in that, that upper little corner of Australia, you can look at it on a map, and it stayed at the same latitude and longitude for millions of years. And so you can go and see plant species there that are fossils everywhere else in the world. And it’s incredible because it’s, it’s really like going back in time to be there.
Victoria:
Oh, that is amazing. I’m adding that to my bucket list for sure.
Dr. Peffer:
Yeah. And then you can go see the Great Barrier Reef too, cause that’s right off the coast.
Victoria:
Alright. So that is all of our questions. I guess one more. Do you have any questions of your own for the listeners?
Dr. Peffer:
I would like to hear where the listeners have experienced biology today. So now that I’ve given you a couple of examples, where have you experienced biology today?
Victoria:
Awesome. And do you have a professional social media account that they can message you their answers?
Dr. Peffer:
I do. So I’m on Instagram as biology everywhere book. I’m on Twitter with just my name, so Melanie underscore Peffer. I’m on Facebook and again, just my name and LinkedIn as well.
Victoria:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much. This was amazing. I, now I’m thinking about everything everywhere totally differently. And thinking about the biology. But yeah, this was really great talking to you. Thank you so much for doing this.
Dr. Peffer:
Thank you for having me, and thank you to everybody who wrote in with questions too.
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