Page 29 - The Love Hypothesis

cancer, and I was wondering w hether there might be a

possibility to carry out my work in your lab at Harvard.
I am happy to talk more in detail about my project if you

are in terested.

Sincerely,

Olive

Olive Smith
Ph.D. Candidate

Biology Department, Stanford University

If Tom Benton, cancer researcher extraordinaire, came to Stanford and
gave Olive ten minutes of his time, she could convince him to help her out

with her research predicament!
Well . . . maybe.

Olive was much better at actually doing research than at selling its
importance to others. Science communication and public speaking of any
sort were definitely her big weaknesses. But she had a chance to show

Benton how promising her results were. She could list the clinical benefits
of her work, and she could explain how little she required to turn her project

into a huge success. All she needed was a quiet bench in a corner of his lab,
a couple hundred of his lab mice, and unlimited access to his twenty-

million-dollar electron microscope. Benton wouldn’t even notice her.
Olive headed for the break room, mentally writing an impassioned

speech on how she was willing to use his facilities only at night and limit
her oxygen consumption to less than five breaths per minute. She poured
herself a cup of stale coffee and turned around to find someone scowling

right behind her.
She startled so hard that she almost burned herself.

“Jesus!” She clutched her chest, took a deep breath, and held tighter
onto her Scooby-Doo mug. “Anh. You scared the shit out of me.”