How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science
1 min read
Summary
Manu Prakash is a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University who investigates urgent global health problems, including infectious disease diagnosis and poor sanitation, as well as exploratory questions with no immediate practical application.
His lab makes low-cost scientific tools that he says don’t merely expand access to science, but also teach people to ask new questions and take a more playful approach to research.
Prakash grows interested in the paradoxical or counterintuitive behaviors of marine microbes and other single-celled organisms, such as cells that can migrate great distances by inflating like a hot-air balloon.
He calls this approach to science “recreational biology,” akin to recreational math, and argues that basic science questions are foundational to technological society.
Foldscope, a paper microscope he designed, offers a low-cost window into the microscopic world and has been used by 3 million people around the globe.
