Over the past three days, I had the opportunity to attend the Data Science Initiative Spring Research Workshop 2024, hosted by the University of Minnesota’s Data Science Initiative (DSI). The three-day event was packed with engaging discussions, thought-provoking talks, and sessions that explored the dynamic field of Generative AI. Here
18 months ago, I found myself in my 26th job. Ten years into the workforce I averaged two jobs per year since the age of 14. Suffering like the rest of us pre-med martyrs, the grind of full time patient care, full time school, and part time gig work to
Dear Common Scientist, My path to believing the internet is a human right was a windy one. It started a month into working for a small health company. I kid you not, Russian hackers penetrated the organization’s computers and deployed ransomware, software that locked us out of our email and
“Now think of the happiest things. It’s the same as having wings,” Peter Pan exclaims to the young Darling children while teaching them to fly away to Neverland, a fictitious island where they could remain children forever, in The Walt Disney production Peter Pan. In the midst of war times
A New Look into the Fascinating Future of Miracles (and Murphy’s Law) The future of miracles looks bleak. Possibly non-existent. Since the scientific method was popularized over three centuries ago, we have been consumed with solving life’s mysteries. With that, much of the so-called “miracles” in life no longer seem
Nature’s Treasure Map: A Tool to Navigate Life’s Crap The treasure evokes a primal voracity. It seems to have fallen from the sky, a miracle like manna. It has a special magnetism, an irresistible pull that entices them all. One amongst them, quick footed and fortunate to be nearest at
Many believe that stoicism as a way of life is an honorable goal—a great philosophy much worth giving. Through Stoicism, they say, anyone is capable of a life worth living–eudaimonia. This poses the philosophical question though: What does it mean to have a life worth living, and who decides how
What do you do? Well, I do many things. I camp, I ski, I walk, I sleep, oh yeah, and I happen to work as a research assistant at the University of Minnesota. Why is it that the first answers I have proposed are unacceptable answers to this uniquely American
I stared into the sun with new eyes. Never before had I seen it in this way, not merely a source of light but the hearth that 9 billion people–and the speeding sphere they inhabit–revolve around. Not only Earth, but the other celestial bodies, too, revolve around the Sun, subservient