science: August 2007 Archives
Dr Benedict Noh tells Harper's Bazaar about his scientific ambitions, bees, and his megalomaniac wife:
Here I am with my favourite molecule, hydronando oxymaybelline. I invented it myself - it's synthesised by dissolving old pennies in laboratory gravy. This is actually a model of the molecule. The real thing is only the size of a baby's hand.
I'm not sure what my molecule can be used for yet. It's quite sticky, but to be honest, there are quite a lot of sticky molecules already. Paint, glue, Nutella - all molecules.
As you can see in the photo, I like to peer through the hexagonal 'window' in the centre of my molecule. I like to imagine I'm a bee gazing out of her room in the beehive before a hard day's work eating pollen. Bees are an inspiration to me.
My wife, Emily, doesn't approve of my molecular biology. She says it's 'playing God'. But somehow it's not 'playing God' when she puts on her false white beard and orders me out to the shed to make a massive boat out of gopher wood. It's a clear case of 'double standards'.
I hope to get the Nobel Prize for Molecules for my hydronando oxymaybelline. Or failing that, a rosette in the village science fair. Mrs Levitin's chess-playing pumpkin surely can't win again.
Here I am with my favourite molecule, hydronando oxymaybelline. I invented it myself - it's synthesised by dissolving old pennies in laboratory gravy. This is actually a model of the molecule. The real thing is only the size of a baby's hand.
I'm not sure what my molecule can be used for yet. It's quite sticky, but to be honest, there are quite a lot of sticky molecules already. Paint, glue, Nutella - all molecules.
As you can see in the photo, I like to peer through the hexagonal 'window' in the centre of my molecule. I like to imagine I'm a bee gazing out of her room in the beehive before a hard day's work eating pollen. Bees are an inspiration to me.
My wife, Emily, doesn't approve of my molecular biology. She says it's 'playing God'. But somehow it's not 'playing God' when she puts on her false white beard and orders me out to the shed to make a massive boat out of gopher wood. It's a clear case of 'double standards'.
I hope to get the Nobel Prize for Molecules for my hydronando oxymaybelline. Or failing that, a rosette in the village science fair. Mrs Levitin's chess-playing pumpkin surely can't win again.
