An engineering physicist sometimes masquerading as a biologist or, on one occasion, a chemist. Aspiring astronaut. Nuclear is the way.
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I swear to God, that always amazes me. I hate living in the aluminum tube, but the one consolation is looking over the grandeur of our magnificent country, and daydreaming about the day I can retire and experience it at ground level.
I am flying in a crowded jet above the most majestic and Biblical desert landscapes I know of -- the Colorado Plateau, home of stupendous canyons and buttes etc, with many world-class national parks -- and mine is one of only 4 open windows on the whole plane.
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Teamwork in the Cell Observatory: Gokul using a powered hacksaw to fix a goof in an upgrade I designed for the iSOAR microscope
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Eric Betzig retweeted
“You are in danger of living a life so comfortable and soft that you will die without ever realizing your true potential.”
- David Goggins
David Goggins, born in 1975, overcame a difficult childhood marked by poverty, racism, and abuse. Once overweight and struggling with direction, he transformed himself into a Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, and endurance athlete through extraordinary discipline and determination.
Goggins believes that personal growth begins when people confront discomfort rather than avoid it. His philosophy emphasizes mental toughness, accountability, and pushing beyond perceived limitations. Through his books and public speaking, he encourages others to embrace hardship and discover their true potential.
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Eric Betzig retweeted
“You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.”
- James Clear
James Clear is an American author and speaker best known for his bestselling 2018 book, Atomic Habits. After suffering a serious baseball injury in high school, he developed an interest in how small, consistent improvements can produce remarkable long-term results.
Clear believes lasting success comes from building effective systems rather than relying solely on motivation or ambitious goals. His philosophy emphasizes identity, consistency, and incremental progress, encouraging people to focus on becoming one percent better every day through small, meaningful habits.
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Nothing is more difficult than to introduce a new order of things.
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Tom Brady: To be successful at anything, the truth is, you do not have to be special.
You just have to be what most people aren not: consistent, determined and willing to work for it. No shortcuts.
The Winning Difference
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Nothing says open inquiry like getting angry when someone asks the wrong question.
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“The life you seek is hidden inside the discipline you avoid.”
- Epictetus
Despite being born into slavery, Epictetus rose to become one of history’s most influential Stoic philosophers. He believed that genuine freedom does not come from having an easier life, but from developing the ability to master yourself.
His teachings emphasized a challenging yet powerful principle: while you cannot determine everything that happens around you, you can choose your reactions, guide your decisions, and remain persistent when confronted with adversity.
“The life you seek is hidden inside the discipline you avoid.”
Although this quotation has no verified connection to Epictetus, its message reflects a central theme of Stoic philosophy. The future you desire may depend on confronting the responsibilities you repeatedly put off, whether that means exercising when you lack motivation, completing difficult tasks, or finally making the uncomfortable choices you have been avoiding.
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Eric Betzig retweeted
The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest.
Without effort and change, human life cannot remain good. It is not a finished Utopia that we ought to desire, but a world where imagination and hope are alive and active.
-- Bertrand Russell,
Political Ideals (1917)
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Eric Betzig retweeted
"The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it—basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them."
— Charles Bukowski
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Time may be passing him by, but it takes amazing amount of bravery to take the field at age 42. That hit would have probably killed me at the same age.
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JFC. Taking the long view, at this point Michigan's best play would be to forfeit the win and congratulate Western Michigan. If not, they'll be defending this blot on their record for years, and their pride in what it means to be "A Michigan Man" will seem simply delusional.
The FBS Oversight Committee says in a statement that "instant replay protocols were not followed in the contest’s second-to-last play" in the Western Michigan-Michigan game, and "had the protocols been followed, the outcome of the game would have been different."
FBS oversight committee says it cannot overturn the result.
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Given this team and the length of the college football season, it's not like the odds of winning the B10 or entering the CFP are very good, so the cost of such a move is small, while the long-term gain to their reputation would be large. Thus, it's not only the right thing to do, but also the thing in their best interest.
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Another spectacular video about the road to full reusability, with fabulous videos. Your team is so young and so, so good!
A fully and rapidly reusable rocket will fundamentally change how humanity accesses outer space. “The Holy Grail of Rocketry” continues the ongoing Starship series with a look back at the scrappy days of SpaceX engineers proving reuse was possible and takes you onboard a high-seas race to recover a floating Starship
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One of the true meritocracies left, completely colorblind, and followed by tens of millions of all ages. Both teamwork and personal accountability are on display in every game and every interview. A shining example of what the rest of society could be.
What I love about professional sports is the clear attribution of merit and accountability.
A player can openly admit that he played badly, hurt the team, and should not have been out there. He is respected for his honesty and he will have another chance.
Can you imagine a scientist saying the same thing?
I overlooked something. I was wrong. My result could not be reproduced. People should not rely on this finding.
We do not have that kind of personal accountability in science. In sports, there is constant attention to performance and judgment of the outcome. In science, we reward people for publishing, but very few people keep watching to see whether the work actually holds up.
If we want more honesty from scientists, we need an ecosystem in which people pay attention to outcomes in the same way that fans and sports media pay attention to athletes.
Being wrong is inevitable. Admitting it should be expected but we don't see this in science. We do not have a scientific system as robust as professional sports, but we should strive to build one.
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Thanks to Misha and Mike from 632nm.com/ for the fantastic job you did on the interview, and Dylan's equally fantastic job on the editing. In 2.5 hours, we covered a lot of territory, with no holds barred. Easily the best and most fun interview I ever did. All the best with 632 nm and your other endeavors.
“Almost everything you learn in biology textbooks is a hallucination.”
This week we spoke with Nobel Prize-winning physicist @Eric_Betzig about one of the biggest challenges in biology: actually seeing what happens inside a living cell.
Betzig’s work in super-resolution microscopy revealed a dynamic molecular world that often looks very different from the static picture in biology textbooks.
We discuss PALM, the diffraction limit, live-cell imaging, and his ambitious Cell Observatory project to combine automated microscopy, massive datasets, and AI to understand the complexity of living cells.
Full episode here on X and YouTube (see comment).
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:30 - The Diffraction Limit
12:30 - Imaging Cells
19:04 - Betzig's Transition from Physics to Biology
32:37 - Getting Fed Up with Science
34:57 - Leaving Science for the Automotive Industry
55:55 - 2008 and the Fall of the Automotive Industry
1:09:50 - Building a Microscope in a Living Room
1:34:01 - Insights from Super-Resolution Microscopy
1:47:53 - AI for Analyzing Petabytes of Data
2:10:35 - Improving Microscopes
2:15:27 - Nuclear Energy and Politics
2:23:18 - The Magic of Bell Labs
2:36:17 - Is SpaceX the New Bell Labs?
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Can’t beat Kary’s, but I got the idea for mine while unemployed and pushing my baby daughter in her stroller.
Do a little research into Nobel Prize winners in the sciences who received key information for their breakthroughs in the form of dreams or uncanny encounters. (Encounters with glowing raccoons, etc.)
It might surprise you if you think science is all about experimentation.
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