In the middle of a school day, science teacher Brittany Beck passes out in her classroom, leading her to reflect on what got her here, and inspired by her grandfather, Kitty Yang becomes a math teacher, but soon realizes she misses being a student.
Read MoreMentors: Stories about who helps us find our way
As a brand-new professor of physiology, John Redden is eager to help students, but soon realizes it’s more complicated than he thought, and biologist Sarah Fankhauser’s relationship with her adviser changes when she joins her lab as a grad student.
Read MoreInspiration: Stories about what inspires us
Just before she leaves for her dream opportunity to teach marine science on the Red Sea, Latasha Wright gets a call that puts her plans in jeopardy, and growing up, Sheena Cruickshank's teenage older brother inspires her love of science, but then one summer he returns from university with a lump on his arm.
Read MoreHeredity: Stories about where we come from
A question that Laura Spink asked her parents as a kid comes up again when her own child begins to ask similar questions, and after Denise Coberley brings up her doubt in the Bible to her adoptive religious parents, she finds herself on a journey of self-discovery.
Read MoreIn Love with Science: Stories about loving science
Parmvir Bahia struggles to appease her parents’ desires for an Indian son-in-law while also satisfying her own desires to be a scientist, and Monica Dunford finds physics cold and boring until she gets a summer job in a lab that changes everything.
Read MoreDanger: Stories about life-threatening situations
Ralph Bouquet goes off script during a psychology research study with uncomfortable and revealing consequences, and Ali Mustafa finds that the scars of war stay with him even at his new job in the lab.
Read MoreCourage: Stories about standing up for yourself
The lessons that Margaret Rubega learns from her dad about fighting back are put to the test when he becomes the one she must stand up to, and in following her dream of studying chemistry, Charlotte Istance-Tamblin sees how to break the toxic patterns in her relationships.
Read MoreAcceptance: Stories about belonging
Computer scientist LaShana Lewis’s childhood dream of attending Space Camp starts to feel far away — until she gets the Christmas surprise of a lifetime, and when Guizella Rocabado leaves her home in Bolivia to pursue her education in the United States, her plan hits an unexpected snag.
Read MoreStress: Stories about being under pressure
Due to stress in her personal life, TV writer Joey Slamon develops a cyst in an unfortunate place, and on the day of biochemistry PhD student Kellie Vinal’s qualifying exam, nothing goes according to plan.
Read MoreJust a Number: Stories about age and science
Miserable at her corporate job, Michelle McCrackin begins to dream of a career in wildlife biology, and volcanologist Ben Kennedy’s attempts to be taken seriously as a scientist are undermined by his youthful appearance.
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