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In the middle of my Ph.D.,

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I was hopelessly stuck.

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Every research direction that I tried

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led to a dead end.

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It seemed like my basic assumptions

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just stopped working.

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I felt like a pilot flying through the mist,

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and I lost all sense of direction.

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I stopped shaving.

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I couldn't get out of bed in the morning.

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I felt unworthy

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of stepping across the gates of the university,

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because I wasn't like Einstein or Newton

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or any other scientist whose results

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I had learned about, because in science,

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we just learn about the results, not the process.

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And so obviously, I couldn't be a scientist.

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But I had enough support

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and I made it through

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and discovered something new about nature.

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This is an amazing feeling of calmness,

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being the only person in the world

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who knows a new law of nature.

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And I started the second project in my Ph.D,

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and it happened again.

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I got stuck and I made it through.

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And I started thinking,

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maybe there's a pattern here.

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I asked the other graduate students, and they said,

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"Yeah, that's exactly what happened to us,

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except nobody told us about it."

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We'd all studied science as if it's a series

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of logical steps between question and answer,

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but doing research is nothing like that.

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At the same time, I was also studying

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to be an improvisation theater actor.

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So physics by day,

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and by night, laughing, jumping, singing,

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playing my guitar.

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Improvisation theater,

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just like science, goes into the unknown,

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because you have to make a scene onstage

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without a director, without a script,

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without having any idea what you'll portray

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or what the other characters will do.

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But unlike science,

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in improvisation theater, they tell you from day one

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what's going to happen to
you when you get onstage.

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You're going to fail miserably.

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You're going to get stuck.

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And we would practice staying creative

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inside that stuck place.

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For example, we had an exercise

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where we all stood in a circle,

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and each person had to do
the world's worst tap dance,

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and everybody else applauded

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and cheered you on,

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supporting you onstage.

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When I became a professor

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and had to guide my own students

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through their research projects,

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I realized again,

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I don't know what to do.

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I'd studied thousands of hours of physics,

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biology, chemistry,

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but not hour, not one concept

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on how to mentor, how to guide someone

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to go together into the unknown,

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about motivation.

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So I turned to improvisation theater,

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and I told my students from day one

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what's going to happen when you start research,

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and this has to do with our mental schema

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of what research will be like.

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Because you see, whenever people do anything,

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for example if I want to touch this blackboard,

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my brain first builds up a schema,

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a prediction of exactly what my muscles will do

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before I even start moving my hand,

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and if I get blocked,

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if my schema doesn't match reality,

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that causes extra stress called cognitive dissonance.

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That's why your schemas had better match reality.

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But if you believe the way science is taught,

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and if you believe textbooks, you're liable

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to have the following schema of research.

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If A is the question,

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and B is the answer,

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then research is a direct path.

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The problem is that if an experiment doesn't work,

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or a student gets depressed,

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it's perceived as something utterly wrong

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and causes tremendous stress.

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And that's why I teach my students

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a more realistic schema.

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Here's an example

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where things don't match your schema.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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You know.

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So I teach my students a different schema.

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If A is the question,

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B is the answer,

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stay creative in the cloud,

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and you start going,

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and experiments don't work, experiments don't work,

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experiments don't work, experiments don't work,

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until you reach a place linked
with negative emotions

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where it seems like your basic assumptions

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stop making sense,

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like somebody yanked the carpet beneath your feet.

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And I call this place the cloud.

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Now you can be lost in the cloud

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for a day, a week, a month, a year,

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a whole career,

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but sometimes, if you're lucky enough

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and you have enough support,

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you can see in the materials at hand,

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or perhaps meditating on the shape of the cloud,

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a new answer,

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C, and you decide to go for it.

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And experiments don't work, experiments don't work,

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but you get there,

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and then you tell everyone about it

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by publishing a paper that reads A arrow C,

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which is a great way to communicate,

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but as long as you don't forget the path

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that brought you there.

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Now this cloud is an inherent part

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of research, an inherent part of our craft,

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because the cloud stands guard at the boundary.

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It stands guard at the boundary

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between the known

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and the unknown,

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because in order to discover something truly new,

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at least one of your basic
assumptions has to change,

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and that means that in science,

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we do something quite heroic.

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Every day, we try to bring ourselves

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to the boundary between
the known and the unknown

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and face the cloud.

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Now notice that I put B

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in the land of the known,

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because we knew about it in the beginning,

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but C is always more interesting

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and more important than B.

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So B is essential in order to get going,

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but C is much more profound,

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and that's the amazing thing about resesarch.

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Now just knowing that word, the cloud,

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has been transformational in my research group,

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because students come to me and say,

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"Uri, I'm in the cloud,"

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and I say, "Great, you must be feeling miserable."

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(Laughter)

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But I'm kind of happy,

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because we might be close to the boundary

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between the known and the unknown,

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and we stand a chance of discovering

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something truly new,

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since the way our mind works,

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it's just knowing that the cloud, you know,

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is normal, it's essential,

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and in fact beautiful,

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we can join the Cloud Appreciation Society,

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and it detoxifies the feeling that something

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is deeply wrong with me.

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And as a mentor, I know what to do,

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which is to step up my support for the students,

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because research in psychology shows

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that if you're feeling fear and despair,

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your mind narrows down

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to very safe and conservative ways of thinking.

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If you'd like to explore the risky paths

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needed to get out of the cloud,

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you need other emotions

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—solidarity, support, hope—

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that come with your connection from somebody else,

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so like in improvisation theater,

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in science, it's best to walk into the unknown

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together.

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So knowing about the cloud,

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you also learn from improvisation theater

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a very effective way to have conversations

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inside the cloud.

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It's based on the central principle

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of improvisation theater,

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so here improvisation theater

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came to my help again.

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It's called saying "yes and"

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to the offers made by other actors.

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That means accepting the offers

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and building on them, saying "yes and."

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For example, if one actor says,

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"Here is a pool of water,"

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and the other actor says,

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"No, that's just a stage,"

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the improvisation is over.

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It's dead, and everybody feels frustrated.

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That's called blocking.

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If you're not mindful of communications,

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scientific conversations can have a lot of blocking.

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Saying "yes and" sounds like this.

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"Here is a pool of water."
"Yeah, let's jump in."

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"Look, there's a whale! Let's grab it by its tail.

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It's pulling us to the moon!"

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So saying "yes and" bypasses our inner critic.

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We all have an inner critic

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that kind of guards what we say,

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so people don't think that we're obscene

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or crazy or unoriginal,

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and science is full of the fear

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of appearing unoriginal.

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Saying "yes and" bypasses the critic

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and unlocks the hidden voices of creativity

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you didn't even know that you had,

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and they often carry the answer

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about the cloud.

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So you see, knowing about the cloud

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and about saying "yes and"

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made my lab very creative.

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Students started playing off of each others' ideas,

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and we made surprising discoveries

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in the interface between physics and biology.

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For example, we were stuck for a year

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trying to understand the intricate

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biochemical networks inside our cells,

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and we said, "We are deeply in the cloud,"

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and we had a playful conversation

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where my student [??] said,

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"Let's just draw this on a
piece of paper, this network,"

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and instead of saying,

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"But we've done that so many times

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and it doesn't work,"

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I said, "Yes and

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let's use a very big piece of paper,"

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and then Ron Milo said,

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"Let's use a gigantic architect's

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blueprint kind of paper, and I know where to print it,"

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and we printed out the network and looked at it,

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and that's where we made
our most important discovery,

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that this complicated network is just made

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of a handful of simple repeating interaction patterns

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like motifs in a stained glass window.

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We call them network motifs,

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and they're the elementary circuits

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that help us understand

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the logic of the way cells make decisions

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in all organisms, including our body.

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Soon enough, after this,

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I started being invited to give talks

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to thousands of scientists across the world,

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but the knowledge about the cloud

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and saying "yes and"

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just stayed within my own lab,

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because you see, in science,

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we don't talk about the process,

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anything subjective or emotional.

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We talk about the results.

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So there was no way to talk about it in conferences.

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That was unthinkable.

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And I saw scientists in other groups get stuck

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without even having a word to describe

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what they're seeing,

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and their ways of thinking

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narrowed down to very safe paths,

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their science didn't reach its full potential,

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and they were miserable.

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I thought, that's the way it is.

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I'll try to make my lab as creative as possible,

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and if everybody else does the same,

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science will eventually become

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more and more better and better.

274
00:10:52,491 --> 00:10:54,961
That way of thinking got turned on its head

275
00:10:54,961 --> 00:10:57,300
when by chance I went to hear Evelyn Fox Keller

276
00:10:57,300 --> 00:10:58,658
give a talk about her experiences

277
00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:00,349
as a woman in science.

278
00:11:00,349 --> 00:11:02,172
And she asked,

279
00:11:02,172 --> 00:11:04,100
"Why is it that we don't talk about the subjective

280
00:11:04,100 --> 00:11:06,586
and emotional aspects of doing science?

281
00:11:06,586 --> 00:11:11,028
It's not by chance. It's a matter of values."

282
00:11:11,028 --> 00:11:12,806
You see, science seeks knowledge

283
00:11:12,806 --> 00:11:14,591
that's objective and rational.

284
00:11:14,591 --> 00:11:16,739
That's the beautiful thing about science.

285
00:11:16,739 --> 00:11:18,555
But we also have a cultural myth

286
00:11:18,555 --> 00:11:20,179
that the doing of science,

287
00:11:20,179 --> 00:11:21,979
what we do every day to get that knowledge,

288
00:11:21,979 --> 00:11:24,419
is also only objective and rational,

289
00:11:24,419 --> 00:11:26,341
like Mr. Spock.

290
00:11:26,341 --> 00:11:28,745
And when you label something

291
00:11:28,745 --> 00:11:30,368
as objective and rational,

292
00:11:30,368 --> 00:11:32,005
automatically, the other side,

293
00:11:32,005 --> 00:11:33,707
the subjective and emotional,

294
00:11:33,707 --> 00:11:35,809
become labeled as non-science

295
00:11:35,809 --> 00:11:37,630
or anti-science or threatening to science,

296
00:11:37,630 --> 00:11:39,481
and we just don't talk about it.

297
00:11:39,481 --> 00:11:41,385
And when I heard that,

298
00:11:41,385 --> 00:11:43,182
that science has a culture,

299
00:11:43,182 --> 00:11:44,869
everything clicked into place for me,

300
00:11:44,869 --> 00:11:46,593
because if science has a culture,

301
00:11:46,593 --> 00:11:48,119
culture can be changed,

302
00:11:48,119 --> 00:11:49,542
and I can be a change agent

303
00:11:49,542 --> 00:11:52,154
working to change the culture
of science wherever I could.

304
00:11:52,154 --> 00:11:55,203
And so the very next lecture I gave in a conference,

305
00:11:55,203 --> 00:11:56,905
I talked about my science,

306
00:11:56,905 --> 00:11:58,467
and then I talked about the importance

307
00:11:58,467 --> 00:12:00,489
of the subjective and emotional
aspects of doing science

308
00:12:00,489 --> 00:12:01,979
and how we should talk about them,

309
00:12:01,979 --> 00:12:03,523
and I looked at the audience,

310
00:12:03,523 --> 00:12:05,343
and they were cold.

311
00:12:05,343 --> 00:12:08,334
They couldn't hear what I was saying

312
00:12:08,334 --> 00:12:10,105
in the context of a 10 back-to-back

313
00:12:10,105 --> 00:12:11,704
PowerPoint presentation conference.

314
00:12:11,704 --> 00:12:13,906
And I tried again and again,
conference after conference,

315
00:12:13,906 --> 00:12:16,699
but I wasn't getting through.

316
00:12:16,699 --> 00:12:19,595
I was in the cloud.

317
00:12:19,595 --> 00:12:22,209
And eventually I managed to get out the cloud

318
00:12:22,209 --> 00:12:25,088
using improvisation and music.

319
00:12:25,088 --> 00:12:28,249
Since then, every conference I go to,

320
00:12:28,249 --> 00:12:31,111
I give a science talk and a second, special talk

321
00:12:31,111 --> 00:12:33,334
called "Love and Fear in the Lab,"

322
00:12:33,334 --> 00:12:35,321
and I start it off by doing a song

323
00:12:35,321 --> 00:12:38,243
about scientists' greatest fear,

324
00:12:38,243 --> 00:12:40,805
which is that we work hard,

325
00:12:40,805 --> 00:12:43,407
we discovered something new,

326
00:12:43,407 --> 00:12:46,504
and somebody else publishes it before we do.

327
00:12:46,504 --> 00:12:49,004
We call it being scooped,

328
00:12:49,004 --> 00:12:52,724
and being scooped feels horrible.

329
00:12:52,724 --> 00:12:54,907
It makes us afraid to talk to each other,

330
00:12:54,907 --> 00:12:56,340
which is no fun,

331
00:12:56,340 --> 00:12:58,077
because we came to science to share our ideas

332
00:12:58,077 --> 00:12:59,981
and to learn from each other,

333
00:12:59,981 --> 00:13:02,940
and so I do a blues song,

334
00:13:05,540 --> 00:13:10,544
which — (Applause) —

335
00:13:10,544 --> 00:13:13,767
called "Scooped Again,"

336
00:13:13,767 --> 00:13:16,425
and I ask the audience to be my backup singers,

337
00:13:16,425 --> 00:13:20,405
and I tell them, "Your text is 'Scoop, Scoop.'"

338
00:13:20,405 --> 00:13:23,250
It sounds like this. Scoop, scoop!

339
00:13:23,250 --> 00:13:24,633
Sounds like this.

340
00:13:24,633 --> 00:13:26,232
♪ I've been scooped again ♪

341
00:13:26,232 --> 00:13:28,245
♪ Scoop! Scoop! ♪

342
00:13:28,245 --> 00:13:29,633
And then we go for it.

343
00:13:29,633 --> 00:13:31,498
♪ I've been scooped again ♪

344
00:13:31,498 --> 00:13:32,684
♪ Scoop! Scoop! ♪

345
00:13:32,684 --> 00:13:34,469
♪ I've been scooped again ♪

346
00:13:34,469 --> 00:13:35,975
♪ Scoop! Scoop! ♪

347
00:13:35,975 --> 00:13:37,918
♪ I've been scooped again ♪

348
00:13:37,918 --> 00:13:39,317
♪ Scoop! Scoop! ♪

349
00:13:39,317 --> 00:13:41,275
♪ I've been scooped again ♪

350
00:13:41,275 --> 00:13:42,637
♪ Scoop! Scoop! ♪

351
00:13:42,637 --> 00:13:45,912
♪ Oh mama, can't you feel my pain ♪

352
00:13:45,912 --> 00:13:49,698
♪ Heavens help me, I've been scooped again ♪

353
00:13:50,925 --> 00:13:57,316
(Applause)

354
00:13:57,555 --> 00:13:59,475
Thank you.

355
00:13:59,475 --> 00:14:00,844
Thank you for your backup singing.

356
00:14:00,844 --> 00:14:02,818
So everybody starts laughing, starts breathing,

357
00:14:02,818 --> 00:14:04,560
notices that there's other scientists around them

358
00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:05,887
with shared issues,

359
00:14:05,887 --> 00:14:07,672
and we start talking about the emotional

360
00:14:07,672 --> 00:14:09,832
and subjective things that go on in research.

361
00:14:09,832 --> 00:14:11,706
It feels like a huge taboo has been lifted.

362
00:14:11,706 --> 00:14:14,505
Finally, we can talk about
this in a scientific conference.

363
00:14:14,505 --> 00:14:16,691
And scientists have gone on to form peer groups

364
00:14:16,691 --> 00:14:18,301
where they meet regularly

365
00:14:18,301 --> 00:14:20,028
and create a space to talk about the emotional

366
00:14:20,028 --> 00:14:22,231
and subjective things that
happen as they're mentoring,

367
00:14:22,231 --> 00:14:23,594
as they're going into the unknown,

368
00:14:23,594 --> 00:14:25,164
and even started courses

369
00:14:25,164 --> 00:14:26,839
about the process of doing science,

370
00:14:26,839 --> 00:14:28,734
about going into the unknown together,

371
00:14:28,734 --> 00:14:30,046
and many other things.

372
00:14:30,046 --> 00:14:31,864
So my vision is that,

373
00:14:31,864 --> 00:14:34,946
just like every scientist knows the word "atom,"

374
00:14:34,946 --> 00:14:36,913
that matter is made out of atoms,

375
00:14:36,913 --> 00:14:38,727
every scientist would know the words

376
00:14:38,727 --> 00:14:41,251
like "the cloud," saying "yes and,"

377
00:14:41,251 --> 00:14:43,820
and science will become much more creative,

378
00:14:43,820 --> 00:14:46,824
make many, many more unexpected discoveries

379
00:14:46,824 --> 00:14:49,099
for the benefit of us all,

380
00:14:49,099 --> 00:14:51,316
and would also be much more playful.

381
00:14:51,316 --> 00:14:54,366
And what I might ask you to remember from this talk

382
00:14:54,366 --> 00:14:56,702
is that next time you face

383
00:14:56,702 --> 00:14:58,588
a problem you can't solve

384
00:14:58,588 --> 00:15:01,064
in work or in life,

385
00:15:01,064 --> 00:15:03,226
there's a word for what you're going to see:

386
00:15:03,226 --> 00:15:04,763
the cloud.

387
00:15:04,763 --> 00:15:06,186
And you can go through the cloud

388
00:15:06,186 --> 00:15:07,644
not alone but together

389
00:15:07,644 --> 00:15:09,212
with someone who is your source of support

390
00:15:09,212 --> 00:15:11,007
to say "yes and" to your ideas,

391
00:15:11,007 --> 00:15:13,577
to help you say "yes and" to your own ideas,

392
00:15:13,577 --> 00:15:15,464
to increase the chance that,

393
00:15:15,464 --> 00:15:17,090
through the wisps of the cloud,

394
00:15:17,090 --> 00:15:18,688
you'll find that moment of calmness

395
00:15:18,688 --> 00:15:20,551
where you get your first glimpse

396
00:15:20,551 --> 00:15:23,991
of your unexpected discovery,

397
00:15:23,991 --> 00:15:26,675
your C.

398
00:15:26,675 --> 00:15:28,785
Thank you.

399
00:15:28,785 --> 00:15:32,785
(Applause)