Taking time to write

Taking time to write out an idea or observation forces us to pause and consider. Recording the daily unfolding of experiments—their success or failure—encourages an honest assessment of how each day’s work fits within the underlying goals and theory of the project. It takes time to create a narrative of experiments, events, and observations, but it eventually pays dividends because it forces thorough examination, which is a common characteristic of science across disciplines. In Darwin’s description of the marine iguana, for example, we can imagine him on board the Beagle, penning his zoological notes and pondering the origin of their “apparent stupidity.”>