“Of course, it mattered; perhaps the knowledge would not help to build bridges or make new medicines, but that was not all that science was about. Science was about the truth, about knowing what was possible and what was not; it was about the fervor I had felt looking upon the beached whale, or the fossil tooth in Catherine’s palm. I had spent my whole life since in service to that same longing: the ravenous beast that was curiosity.”
