How Do We Inspire More People To Go Into STEM Fields?
Cliff Ransom, Editor-In-Chief On a recent afternoon, I found myself standing with Neil deGrasse Tyson, staring at a model of DNA. Tyson is one of the world’s best-known scientists. He is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History and the host of StarTalk, the first science-themed, late-night TV talk show. But on this particular afternoon, he was playing the role of educator. “DNA has a chirality to it,” he said. In all known life, DNA’s double helix winds, by and large, only one direction—to the right. “This model winds to the left. That means it’s either wrong or,” he paused to give a broad smile, “from an unknown life-form.” We had asked Tyson over that day to photograph him for this month’s cover story, “How to Be an Expert in Anything.” If there was ever any...