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Short Wave

Science Is For Everyone β€” Until It's Not

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 β€’ 6K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 8 June 2020

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Encore episode. Brandon Taylor's story has a happy ending. Today he's a successful writer whose debut novel 'Real Life' received glowing reviews earlier this year. But his success only underscores what science lost when Brandon walked away from a graduate biochemistry program in 2016. He tells host Maddie Sofia why he left, and what he misses.

Read his essay in BuzzFeed, 'Working In Science Was A Brutal Education. That's Why I Left.'

Find and support your local public radio station at donate.npr.org/short.

Email the show at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, Maddie Sifaya here.

0:01.9

These last few episodes, we've been focusing on black scientists, their work, and what they're experiencing right now.

0:08.9

Today's episode is about Brandon Taylor.

0:11.6

He wanted to be a scientist, but he's not one.

0:15.3

And the story of why is a story that we should all hear, especially now.

0:21.2

So here's our episode with Brandon, which we first put out back in early April.

0:26.0

New episode tomorrow.

0:27.4

Talk to you then.

0:29.6

You're listening to shortwave from NPR.

0:34.9

Brandon Taylor was the kind of kid who kept a rock journal.

0:39.9

And I grew up on a farm and so I would keep very detailed notes about my grandpa's like chickens that he was breeding.

0:49.3

I mean, if this kid wasn't destined for career in science, I don't know who is.

0:53.8

Some people go to college and they're like, what is my major?

0:56.9

I never wavered.

0:59.4

The biggest change in my life was deciding that I would instead of being a neurosurgeon, study neurochemistry.

1:05.9

Like that was like the big change in my life.

1:09.0

I know I walked on the wild side here.

1:12.8

And so like for me, my entire life, I thought I was going to be a scientist.

1:17.5

But today Brandon is not a scientist.

1:21.1

He's a writer.

1:22.0

His debut novel, Real Life, came out this year.

1:25.6

And it was a big hit.

...

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