What are some stereotypes surrounding life science that you would like to dispel? 想為一些關於生命科學系的刻板印象澄清嗎？ Coby There’s one major stereotype from my family, relatives, and friends. They were probably influenced by movies in which scientists mistakenly released a deadly virus and that sort of things, so they always think that I do dangerous experiments in full protective gear, but it's not the case. Still, when I tell my friends I'm handling Escherichia coli, they tend to think about gut and stomach infection. Actually, there are different strains of E. coli, and the strain we handle is harmless. Some strains may even be probiotics and are good for you. Anyway, that kind of dangerous experiments on the screen probably exists, but they are carried out under strict regulations. 我家人、親戚和朋友都對我的主修有嚴重誤解。他們大概受到電影中科學家意外釋出致命病毒等情節影 響，總覺得我會在穿著全套防護裝備下進行亡命實驗，但事實並非如此。然而，當我告訴朋友我在處理大腸 桿菌時，他們往往會聯想到腸胃感染。其實大腸桿菌也有不同菌株，而我們處理的菌株是無害的。有些菌株 甚至是益生菌，對人體有益。無論如何，螢幕上那種危險實驗也許存在，但它們都在嚴格規管下進行。 Nathan Be open-minded. What I meant by “open-minded” is that if you are committed to something, you have to finish it. If you are unlucky like me that you fell into your second or third or fourth choice, those are still your choices. You put them into your second, third, or fourth choice, not without a reason, not only for a safety net. You still have to be determined, and during the period of study, again, revisit your reason about why you wanted to study this, and why you wanted your first choice. Then you can think about: Do I have a chance to get my path back to my first choice? If the answer is no, then see things differently and take a different path. Biology was not my first choice [but medicine and Chinese], but I treasure my undergraduate experience as it certainly helped my career and my life. Even if things don’t go as planned, you can still find your true calling serendipitously. 要保持開放的心態。我所說的「開放心態」是指如果你承諾做某件事情，那就必須完成它。如果你像我 一樣不幸，落入了你的第二、第三或第四選擇，那些仍是你的選擇，你親手將它們放進你的第二、第三或第 四選擇，不是沒有原因的，因此它們不僅僅是你的「水泡」。你必須保持堅定，在入學之後，再次回想為甚麼 你選擇修讀這一科，以及為甚麼你想進入你的第一選擇。然後你可以思考：我是否有機會回到我的第一選 擇？如果答案是否定的，那就換個角度看待事物，接納這條不同的道路。修讀生物並不是我的第一選擇〔而 是醫學和中文〕，但我仍珍惜我的本科經歷，因為那無疑在現時職業和生活上幫助了我。即使事情不如預期 發展，你仍可以不期而遇地找到適合自己的道路。 Charles A common one is that many people think biology or life science is all about memorization. I have many friends in mathematics, business or engineering who hate biology because they don't want to memorize all the “random” facts. But once you get into biology or life sciences, you start realizing things make sense, and the only difficulty is to go through the initial “activation energy” to get familiar with the terminology. 一個常見的刻板印象是許多人認為生物學或生命科學是死記硬背的科目。我有許多讀數學、商科或工程 的朋友討厭學習生物，因為他們不想背誦那些看似毫無關聯的事實。然而你一踏入生物學或生命科學的世界， 就會意識到一切皆有理可循。唯一的挑戰只在於記住術語，衝破了「反應」初期的「能量障礙」就好。
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