YSM Issue 96.4

SERENDIPITOUS SCIENCE
BY JAMIE SEU
Oops! is not a word you want to hear in the lab. Unfortunately (or not),
accidents are a common reality in research. But sometimes, these
mistakes can bring about valuable revelations, as discovered by the
nominees of NPR’s Golden Mole Award for Accidental Brilliance.
A podcast presented by Skunk Bear, NPR’s science-centered YouTube channel,
highlights five instances of serendipitous scientific discovery, including the
story behind the winner of the Golden Mole, Elizabeth Tibbetts. A biologist at
the University of Michigan, Tibbetts was researching wasp behavior when she
stumbled upon a fascinating revelation: wasps can recognize each other’s faces,
just as humans can.
The realization started with a careless mistake. To study wasp behavior, Tibbetts
taped and watched video footage of the insects, analyzing interactions between
colony members. She color-coded each wasp with a dot of paint, a critical step that
allowed her to distinguish between the insects. One day, however, she discovered
that she had forgotten to paint a few wasps, leaving her with what she thought was
a frustrating waste of a recording. But something caught her eye—she realized
that the wasps had discernible facial features. “I could still tell them apart, just by
their natural patterns,” Tibbetts said. Upon closer inspection, Tibbetts identified
unique colors, patterns, and “eyebrow” structures that allowed her to differentiate
them. The question then became: If she could distinguish between individuals,
could the wasps themselves tell each other apart?
THE
According to prior research on insect behavior, the answer was no. But
Tibbetts was determined to investigate the subject herself. “Maybe if I had more
experience, I wouldn’t have pursued it, because maybe I would have thought it
was implausible,” Tibbetts said. Fortunately, she pushed on and determined that,
yes, wasps can recognize each other. Furthermore, it is this ability that facilitates
complex social interactions between members of a colony and allows for wasps to
develop personal relationships.
Tibbetts’ serendipitous tale was one of hundreds of stories submitted to Skunk
IMAGE COURTESY OF PIXABAY
Bear. One notable runner-up was George Liu, a researcher at the University of
California, San Diego, who discovered the novel use of pigment as a bacterial
defense mechanism after his lab equipment was contaminated with bleach. Other
memorable contenders included former Stanford University undergraduate Nate
SPOTLIGHT
Cira and his adviser, Manu Prakash, who discovered the role of evaporation and
surface tension in artificial chemotaxis, the movement of a particle in response
to a chemical stimulus. While these stories only offer a glimpse into the myriad
of ways in which discoveries can be made, they highlight the value of mistakes
in research. Skunk Bear’s Golden Mole Award takes a creative approach to
emphasize this lesson, presenting the “what” and “how” of the research in an
amusing manner. Any listener curious about the “why” will need to engage in
some investigation of their own due to the podcast’s brevity.
Skunk Bear’s Golden Mole segment is worth a listen for any person, researcher
or not, who could use a reminder about the importance of adaptability and
perseverance. If we can learn anything from these scientists, it’s that “oops” can
be okay sometimes. It might even lead to something great. ■
www.yalescientific.org
December 2023 Yale Scientific Magazine 37