Biologists are seldom bored

From Gathering Moss, two short pieces on the benefits of nerdiness:

“Time can vanish in exploring these places, like wandering through an art gallery of unexpected forms and colors. Sometimes, I look up from my microscope at the end of an hour, and I’m taken aback at the plainness of the ordinary world, the drab and predictable shapes.”

― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses

After a scene where a fellow biologist picks up goose shit (or something) from the sidewalk and examines it under the microscope to find specific mosses:

“Biologists may make unsuitable dinner conversation, but we are seldom bored.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses