I've observed an interesting phenomenon these last few weeks as the shades of green have transformed into hues of gold.
(See if you can identify the phenomenon.)
It's everywhere I look:
staring out my office window,
walking from the university library to my office,
and biking to the university.
Here's the discovery:
the leaves at the top of the trees begin changing colors before those at the bottom.
Here's the discovery:
the leaves at the top of the trees begin changing colors before those at the bottom.
I posed the following question to a panel of experts (watch on!):
Why do leaves at the top of trees change color before the ones towards the bottom?
And you can read on about why leaves change colors here (and for all the parents out there, and those who are still kids at heart, enjoy trying out the awesome science experiments!):
In preparation for an upcoming seminar Tracing Our Intellectual Roots Across the Language Disciplines at Lund University (in southern Sweden), I've been reading some key texts written by great researchers within various language-related disciplines. One such text is by Einar Haugen, written in the 1970s. In it he discusses the questions that researchers at that time were asking within the field of sociolinguistics. He then went on to say, in effect, "Those are good questions to ask, but it seems to me that there are better ones to ask; and here are a few to consider." I noticed this pattern emerge within the other readings as well: the key to great research is asking better questions.
So, I guess a better question about this phenomenon might be this:
Why did it take me so long to discover this phenomenon?
Perhaps the root of the answer lies in this principle taught by David Bednar this weekend during a world-wide conference of the LDS church (see more here: http://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng):
be observant and attentive.
being observant and attentive + asking questions = discovering really great things!
What questions have you been asking lately?
Why do leaves at the top of trees change color before the ones towards the bottom?
And you can read on about why leaves change colors here (and for all the parents out there, and those who are still kids at heart, enjoy trying out the awesome science experiments!):
In preparation for an upcoming seminar Tracing Our Intellectual Roots Across the Language Disciplines at Lund University (in southern Sweden), I've been reading some key texts written by great researchers within various language-related disciplines. One such text is by Einar Haugen, written in the 1970s. In it he discusses the questions that researchers at that time were asking within the field of sociolinguistics. He then went on to say, in effect, "Those are good questions to ask, but it seems to me that there are better ones to ask; and here are a few to consider." I noticed this pattern emerge within the other readings as well: the key to great research is asking better questions.
So, I guess a better question about this phenomenon might be this:
Why did it take me so long to discover this phenomenon?
Perhaps the root of the answer lies in this principle taught by David Bednar this weekend during a world-wide conference of the LDS church (see more here: http://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng):
be observant and attentive.
being observant and attentive + asking questions = discovering really great things!
What questions have you been asking lately?
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