You think of science as uncool.

Admit it.

You think of science as something that boring old men in lab coats conjure up to torture schoolchildren who’d rather be playing videogames.

You think of kids who actually like science, actually practice it, as socially mawkish and droll.

Worst case, you think of them as full of themselves and better than you.

I know better.

When I was in school, the scientists were the troublemakers. They were the smart kids, so they knew how. They played power games with the teachers and they won. Because they were smart.

Because being smart made them cool. It made them rebels.

Why don’t you want to be smart?

Why don’t you want smart to be cool?

Why don’t you want to be interesting or even interested?

Or is it just that you don’t think you can? That you don’t think you deserve it?

Cool is you, right? Whatever you are, and you don’t think that you’re smart and maybe science confuses you with the math, and you haven’t figured out yet that there’s a beauty in being confused, even without being on drugs to get there.

You haven’t realized that there’s more to being cool than just being yourself, that other poeple can be cool by being themselves and that’s cool, too, they don’t have to be you.

Can you imagine how boring the world would be if everyone were just like you? It wouldn’t be cool to be you anymore! So be cool, be you and be cool with other people not being you, with other people doing science and making trouble, and maybe ask them if you can help out, you might learn a thing or two.

Hell, you might learn a thing or two about yourself.

You might learn that you like it.