The Importance of an Empty Mind

A popular misconception about scientists is that our greatest insights occur when we're hunched over a microscope or lighting a Bunsen burner.

Not so.

Insights come when the scientific mind is at rest. The equations all add up, the beakers and pipettes are in the 'rinse' cycle, and the old gray matter can do some free association. What looks like idleness to the uneducated observer is actually the Next Big Breakthrough in the making.

So the next time you see a dog scientist doing this...

Do not disturb. Your careless intrusion could mean we never find a cure for the common cold.

And that smell? It's not dinner digesting. It's a result of the release of concentrated energy in the cortex; we scientists call it 'cerebral emissions.' Brain gas.