Why I love genetics

Gregor MendelA few years ago I had a discussion with a friend about our academic backgrounds. She is a neurobiologist by training, so I remarked in an offhand manner that I'd had an interest in neuroscience years ago. In fact, I admitted that I had even dabbled with the idea of pursuing graduate work in that discipline. More specifically cognitive neuroscience. Stanislas Dehaene's work, detailed in The Number Sense and Reading in the Brain, was of great fascination for me (cognitive and evolutionary psychology, of the sort outlined in Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct, has also been something of a personal obsession). I didn't go that route...I've been writing for 10+ years now, and long time readers can probably attest to the fact that I've become more and more focused on genetics as time goes by. This is due to the reality that I really like genetics. Really. The friend with whom I was having the conversation about our various interests admitted she couldn't even imagine an alternative universe version of me who would nerd out on neuroscience. That would be a bizarro-world Razib.