The Last Samurai

Out with the old, in with the new. I've graduated, relocated, and switched to working on kidney stem cells. And as much as I've enjoyed writing this blog, it peaked a while back, and now it's time to mix it up a bit.

This blog is dividing - and neither of the daughter cells look exactly like the mother. Science News and Views will continue on Science Consulting, hopefully a communal effort between me and some friends from grad school. Interested in becoming a science consultant yourself? Please join our Facebook Group - we're looking for a few good nerds.

More of a left-brain person? I'm compartmentalizing my more philosophical musings into The Shmlag, a retro blog. While everyone else marches forward, I'm going to try to march backwards through the bustling crowd in search of my inner child. Should be fun.

But first, I want to give Samurai Scientist a proper send-off into the vast binary yonder. I've enjoyed writing this blog over the last year and a half, and hopefully you've enjoyed reading it. I've tried to convey the idea that science doesn't happen in a vacuum. There's a reality to it, a people, a culture, who are actually pretty fun to be around. Once you engage in all that, it enriches your life and becomes part of you.

Research, like life, is surely suffering. It's also purifying, clarifying, and enlightening. If you're going for a Ph.D., it helps to adopt the ethos of a samurai. You must master nature, force her to obey - it's like sorcery. And there are also obstacles you won't be able to overcome. It may be the hardest thing you ever do, but then few things worth doing are easy. The trick, as with everything else, is to stop worrying and enjoy the experiment.

And smile - don't forget to smile.