KM: I am a very visual learner, which is
perhaps why I was drawn to one of the most
visual sciences, biology. A lot of biology is about
structure and function, so at times to really
understand something, you have to see it.
MG: From blogging for Scientific American
to writing books about genetics (What’s in Your
Genes: From the Color of Your Eyes to the
Length of Your Life, a Revealing Look at Your
Genetic Traits) to running science comic workshops,
you are very busy! What exciting projects are you
currently working on?
KM: I’m preparing to appear at a few comic
conventions in the next year, which I’m very
excited about, and I’m looking into ways to
SciArt in America October 2014
write a whole biology textbook’s worth of
Beatrice-y things—a text that could actually be
adopted in classrooms.
MG: Lastly, what is one of the biggest laughs you’ve
ever gotten out of biology?
KM: In an alternate universe, evolution could
have found a different way for us to get rid
of wastes. It could have been some method
unimaginable to us that is barely noticeable,
odorless, unobtrusive. But, no. We got a muscle
ring that pushes out globs of smelly brown
soft stuff. It’s like evolution wanted us to never
forget that no matter how much we know, how
advanced we get as a species, we’re still just full
of shit.
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