The Curiosity Read Online Free PDF

twenty-two assays before the first paper appeared , with a long list of coauthors and your name at the top. Where it rightly belongs.
    Thomas—your untitled and unpaid assistant, butler, secretary, shadow, and man Friday—has performed the day’s introductions, provided coffee, stroked the egos to the perfect heat. For the moment your role is figurehead. Master of ceremonies.
    â€œAre we ready?” you repeat.
    â€œWe’re on the last parameters, sir,” comes the reply.
    You consult your watch. Six minutes past the hour, the precise interval after the scheduled start that you believe sharpens an audience’s curiosity. So your patter begins.
    â€œGentlemen . . . and lady.” You nod at the Post reporter. “Thank you for coming today. We are pleased to demonstrate recent accomplishments by the Carthage Institute for Cellular Seeking. Today we will reanimate . . . which is it, Doctor, copapod or krill?”
    â€œKrill,” replies the speakerphone. The technicians wear masks, again purely for appearances, but making it impossible to tell who is speaking.
    You knew the answer anyway, of course. There is no piece of this demonstration that lacks for preparation. You could have been a choreographer.
    â€œThe Euphausia superba, ” you inform the audience, “an excellent creature. Low in the food chain, the biomass of this Antarctic species exceeds five hundred million tons, roughly double the biomass of all human beings.”
    â€œWe’re ready now, sir,” the speaker declares.
    â€œPermit me to provide a context,” you begin. The next four minutes contain the view-from-space version of everything you have learned over the past thirty-six years.
    â€œLet us begin with the familiar: plants. They make these.” From a side table you pick up a sunflower seed and display it for all. “Appears dead. Contains life. We are so accustomed to these little dormant packages, we scarcely register that they possess all the materials necessary to become alive.”
    You replace the seed and show them a pinecone. “This comes from a lodgepole pine, a western evergreen that can grow to one hundred and sixty feet. Yet this cone will open to release seeds only upon experiencing a temperature of one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit. After a volcano or forest fire, this is the species that restores a scorched countryside by creating a carpet of green. Certain extreme conditions are necessary to reveal its inner life power.”
    You place the cone exactly where it was, ready for the next presentation. A glance at Thomas shows him focused entirely on you, though he has heard this speech on countless prior occasions. He does serve at times, doesn’t he?
    You continue: “In addition to plants, there are four other forms of life on this planet. Four, and each one has a phase of apparent death which is disproven by life that eventually results. Let us first consider the bacterium, which works similarly to seeds. It awaits favorable conditions—especially moisture, temperature, and a host—and then experiences a rebirth. Next are fungi such as mushrooms, whose latency we recognize every time we add hot water to seemingly lifeless yeast. The third kind, protists such as amoebas, reproduce identically, such that it is impossible to tell which is offspring and which is the original, confounding the concept of any particular entity dying.”
    You have wandered along the great window, hands holding your lapels, appearing to pace absently though you have synchronized your motion and speech so that you arrive precisely at the last word. At the far end, you halt.
    â€œThis shallow perception of mortality also extends to the remaining life-form, the animals. You think you know when they live and die. But today we shall change your minds, as we reanimate Euphausia by finding the seedlike mechanisms within.”
    They shift in their seats. You can