If you were the kid who struggled in science class, you'd have been happy to have someone like Jennifer Gardy in your class.
Although she's all grown up now, you can almost imagine her seeking out answers with pigtails and a microscope.
Her avid curiosity led to her impressive career at the forefront of molecular epidemiology and a hosting gig on The Nature of Things. Years ago, she met award winning cellist Peter Gregson in the UK at a conference similar to TEDx called “Thinking Digital.” Whenever she was in London, they would get together for cocktails and “wild and crazy ideas.”
Their TEDx just might be one of those crazy ideas (but also a stroke of genius):
You may have done the impossible. You may have made science cool.
That is one of my missions in life! To dispel the stereotypes that scientists are old, white haired guys with crazy hair. That’s not true! Scientists can be cool and do cool things. I think I was destined to do this. As a kid, I would dissect salmon heads at my parents’ dinner parties.
Are your “fond” childhood memories in your book, It’s Catching, meant for kids?
I want to get folks interested in science at an early age. Let’s all grow up appreciating science and how it underpins everything. I also don’t think I could write a book for adults! I am too overly enthusiastic and a little bit silly.
Your enthusiasm is probably what made you so successful.
I've always followed my passion. When you talk to anyone who really loves what they do, they followed their heart. Infectious diseases is what I studied. I remember seeing Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman when I was a teenager and thought that his character had the coolest job ever. I thought, “I want to do that when I grow up!”
Has the outbreak of Ebola been something you and your team have been following?
I have been following the Ebola outbreak very closely. It’s really interesting stuff. Two of my former colleagues are going over to Africa who volunteer with Doctors Without Borders. That’s the great thing about public health. There's always something new. It’s Ebola now, it could be influenza later. Next week a new pandemic flu. It’s the most exciting field.
You certainly have a different perspective from the rest of us.
Cooties rock! People are real germaphobes and it gives microbes a bad rep. Microbes are everywhere: they're in us, they're on us, they're around us. They are so, so, so important. There's just a teeny tiny portion of microbes that are bad. For example, we already know how to kill Ebola. You can do it with soap. Sure, it’s a dangerous pathogen, but it’s dangerous because of lack of hygiene.
Tell us about your upcoming TEDx.
We wanted to combine Peter’s ideas of using computer science to inform music with my experience in genetics. Our talk might be the first time it has ever happened in human history. It is a combination of genetics lesson and live cello performance. It’s a little kooky.
How did you come up with this idea?
The theme of TEDx is TILT – the idea of your perspective tilting to see things in a new light. In genetics, that happened about 5 or 6 years ago when we stopped seeing the human genome as a string of three billion letters and a series of genes and realized that there are a lot of hidden layers of complexity. This takes a relatively finite amount of genetic material and expresses it in an infinite number of ways. This information is probably responsible for the complexity of human beings and our ability to create art and literature and music. Peter and I thought, why don’t we create a music piece based on this genetic sequence information? This is known as data sonification. You are playing music that is encoded by the data.
And does it sound like a beautiful genome symphony?
It sounds beautiful! When data drives the music entirely, Peter says it sounds like “fire in a pet shop.” He restricts things to particular keys, sourcing beauty on top of the concept by applying this filter. The result is no awful burning pet sounds; just pretty sounds. People have always assumed that scientist is not a creative art. This is a beautiful demonstration of how science and art can intersect. You can create something so beautiful.
You are certainly breaking out of the scientist mould!
It’s so awesome to be a scientist.
Excuse us while we dust off our high school science books…
