yamammiwammi

What do you think about that?

Hello Dr. Aikin, thanks for the AMA!

Not really a question directly pertinent to your recent discovery, but I'm currently a graduate student in an Astrobiology graduate program at McMaster University in Canada. Biweekly, our program meets in a "Journal Club" setting to discuss modern science and I was interested in presenting a paper you or your team have published in the past that would offer good coverage of the concepts/techniques associated with your recent discovery.

I would be totally appreciative if you know of a paper that could introduce the ideas of inflation theory/cosmic background radiation to a group of scientists who would otherwise not be involved with space physics. Being a student in organic geochemistry, I really wouldn't know where to start to find one!

Thanks for your time!

Thank you so much!

Hi Marina. Thanks for doing this. You are a true inspiration to me.

As a Croat, my family comes from very small villages in Europe knowing the farming life. As someone who is born and raised in Canada, my interests and outlook on life have been very different - for instance, my biggest passion is visual art. While growing up I've tried to explain this passion to my parents, but they seem to not understand and disagree - to them, a successful life is determinant on money and fiscal success rather than passion or interests. As a result, I've kinda been pushed along the STEM route, and am now entering graduate school for astrobiology... as exciting as it is, (and I do enjoy it) I'm always drawn back to the art world and yearn to become assimilated into art culture and practice (something I try to do in my spare time).

My question is what advice or words do you have for students (or anyone, really) that want to dedicate their lives to art? In today's society, I think there is huge preference for STEM courses and careers, and there is so much stigma with arts-based education. What do you have to say about that?

Oh my gosh, I've been searching Reddit today looking for places to discuss concept/game art and stuff and couldnt find any and this AMA is PERFECT.

I'm currently a grad student in astrobiology (what??) but I have tremendously huge passion for the arts...especially concept design. I used to buy video games and take the manual books with me to bed because I loved looking at character art and stuff. Nowadays I collect concept art books. The only reason I haven't gone in that direction myself is because everyone here talks about how poorly secure jobs are in the arts (at least in Canada) and so I stuck with other interests. However, there are days that I really just want to drop everything and try my skills at concept work.

Anyway, my question is how successful/secure is concept design, and also how does one make a career out of concept design? I'm hoping after my masters in science I can make the jump back to the arts because I just miss it so much! Thanks for this AMA!