What the Cool Kids Are Up To

I never run out of ways to write about spending time with my son, Finn, because he never runs out of cool stuff to share with me: fascinating work projects, interesting friends, off-the-wall hobbies. 

This past weekend I watched him do an experiment in a real science lab (science!), I went on a walk with a set of grad school friends, and I generally steeped my old-person self in young-person ideas and enthusiasm. That part is usual for my visits; also usual is that the flavors are all different.  

Graphene: The Next Wonder Material

I’ve done my best in many previous posts to tell you about Finn’s doctoral work with the IceCube project that, in part, is detecting neutrinos in Antarctica. For that project he’s working with data, all very science and AI and exciting. But, the visual effect is that he presses buttons on his computer. On this visit he took me into his other world where he works in a lab with high voltage wires and a microscope and soldering stuff: all the equipment we lay people associate with doing science.  

We went to the first-floor set of labs in the biomedical and physical sciences building at Michigan State University, where it’s a loud maze of large machinery. Instead of adults bending over experiments with their lab coats and safety glasses and hard hats or whatever you might expect, it’s young people wearing concert t-shirts and goth hair doing god knows what. I realized: This is the current generation of scientists.

Finn’s work in his room of the lab is on graphene, which headlines online say is:

One of the most promising materials of the 21st century.

On the cusp of launching a fourth Industrial Revolution.

The next wonder material.

The fastest-growing material market of the decade.

That’s because, according to a recent article in Science, graphene (a type of carbon) “is better at carrying electricity than any metal, a superb heat conductor, and hundreds of times stronger than steel.” 

There are impediments to using it, which I’ll leave to the experts to explain, but what I’ll tell you is what Finn is doing with it.  

In his lab, he built a machine that makes graphene, and then he built a system to test its conductivity. To quote him on his website, “I’m creating and testing the properties of laser-induced graphene (LIG) for potential use as a material for a field cage in a time projection chamber in space that would detect astrophysical gamma rays.” 

I’ll just leave that there.

What I will tell you about is what a joy it was to watch him conduct an experiment in his lab. The way he works with his equipment reminds me of how he used to play piano while watching some unrelated video on YouTube, simultaneously. He moves around the lab with confidence and ease. He also described each step of the testing just like he used to show me all the steps for a video game or describe the plot of a book or a concept in school—thorough, because he’s entirely invested in his subject.

He’s the same person as the little kid showing me every detail of how to solve a rubix cube, but now he’s showing me how to test a carbon substance for conductivity.  The evolution of a scientist, right before my eyes, but also the same young person I have known all his life. Fascinating.

A Walk in the Woods with Scientists

I’ve described hanging out with a group of Finn’s peers and friends before, but this time I got to go for a walk with a new group. 

Behold the new faces of neutrino physics, of food science, and of the complexities of botany. Along the path through this wooded park, I jimmied my way to walk beside nearly each person so I could chat about their interests. I learned about mushrooms and berries, about figuring out the best foods to help feed hungry people according to their specific culture and biology and environment, and, of course, I learned who’s whose favorite Star Trek character.

My most interesting revelation was how observant they all are even when I thought they were tuned out, and how quickly their minds work. We would be walking in single file on a path all chatting behind us and in front of us about different subjects, when suddenly everyone chimes in on something Finn had said to me at the very back. How did they hear that? How did they form questions about it in the midst of having conversations of their own, all while observing nature and walking on a rough trail? Their young minds, raised with the internet and now doing scientific research and following different interests, work in ways I can’t imagine for myself. Again, fascinating.  

Idle Time with Finn

Y’all know this is what I’ve missed most from living on the road, just hanging out with Finn, without an agenda, and it’s why I stay at Finn’s place when I visit. I’ve slept in his closet even. This time it’s on a mattress in a spare room, which has its pros and cons, but the pros are that I’m there when he’s free to do whatever. 

We went thrifting. We went birding. We cooked together.

We drank a bit too much cider and ate a bit too many olives and cheesy bread.

We watched a bit too many episodes of Sookie Stackhouse falling in love with Bill the Vampire in True Blood.

And, we recorded a new episode of our podcast.

Which, I just realized won’t be edited soon so I’m not providing a link here. Frankly, we were both a little discombobulated by the fact that we were looking at the same monitor together in the same room, plus there was a little lag, so we were off our game. But recording it again is against our rule of keeping this an easy, fun process.

The easy fun part is that I just used “discombobulate” when this weekend Finn has been using “recombobulate,” which inspired a conversation about words, which is one of my favorite kind of conversations. We had so many conversations—mahjong, family heritage, professional wrestling, the heartbreak when trans people are rejected by family, what button to press when your phone tells you this:

When what you want is for the item to be in your favorites. Seriously, what button do you press?

As always, it was a visit both wonderful and full of wonder.