Before The Abstract

Terry Majewski: An Unlikely Social Scientist by Before the Abstract

Tim Taylor: The Right Lunch Box by Before the Abstract

Sandra López Varela: An Unexpected Life by Before the Abstract

From coming of age in a fascist dictatorship to leaving home for the first time to pursue a PhD in archaeology in the United States, Nuno shares his story of how he came to have the best of two very different worlds.

Stories about Math: Piper Harron by Before the Abstract

A surprising collaboration comes out of Daniele's dinner with 'one of the greatest names in the history of quantum physics.'

A mathematician's career is inspired by her family legacy.

Seth shares a story about the time he opened an "Ask a Mathematician" booth at Burning Man.

Ken Ono has a Eureka moment while working on one of Ramanujan's unpublished manuscripts.

Coming of age in 1970s Chile, an ecologist reflects on the social and environmental issues caused by the political climate, plus recounts how a near death experience impacted the course of his research.

A late night pizza delivery to the lab inspires an Advanced Grant proposal in a surprising way.

One researcher's youth in Zambia shapes her research on gender based violence and ultimately inspires her auto-ethnography. *Disclaimer: Contains explicit language.*

Fueled by her passion for the environment and by way of a career in food styling, one researcher shares her unique journey to becoming an ecologist.

A marine ecologist remembers a surprising and formative experience she had on a dive as an early career researcher.

Karin tells a humorous but tragic story about the reality of postgrad life.

Skeptical scientists Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknick take a trip to a psychic fair to find out if the psychics can really read the details of their past lives.

As a child, editor Andrea Gawrylewski has a heart-stopping experience in the rainforest that inspires her to study earth science.

Perfectionist neuroscientist, Brian Levine, learns how to deal with uncertainty when his patients, who suffer from brain injuries, challenge his expectations.

As an adult, scientist Scott Barry Kaufman confronts the school psychologist who once told him he was doomed by a low IQ and inspired his work to redefine intelligence.

Jean Zarate is torn between neuroscience and music careers until a tragic event brings both into perspective.