Quora is a question-and-answer site. You can view all my contributions here; selected highlights are listed below. I encourage you to check out the other answers submitted for each question, too!

Cancer

How has smoking been proven to cause cancer?

Could intentionally causing cancer cells to mutate into a form more vulnerable help destroy cancers?

Can cancer be caused by defects in RNA splicing?

Why is breast cancer so deadly even after someone has been declared cancer-free for many years (i.e. it often comes back and is often deadly)?

How likely is “the cocktail effect” to be the reason for the increasing rates of cancer?

Other Scientific Subjects

How does mRNA decide which gene is dominant?

Geneticists, what are your feelings about the studies on epigenetics? I found a few who are vehemently opposed to its legitimacy, and I want to know if that’s common or exceptional.

Has anyone ever tried crossing animals with plants?

If the surface of our bodies were covered in photosynthetic cells, how much exposure to the sun would you need to sustain the body’s metabolic process?

Is there such a thing as an ideal human or organism?

What is a plasmid?

Science Books: Could you help me to find “scientific novels” in English or Spanish? Not “science fiction novels”, but stories about the human feelings of the people who deal with science.

Is Mary Roach a good science writer?

About Scientific Research and Careers

What great prank has a scientist pulled on his or her colleagues?

What determines a reasonable budget for a research grant?

How many projects is a PhD student supposed to lead and do by him/herself?

Who should not try to become a professor?

What are you doing with your life science PhD? How did you get there? Why did you choose it?

To what extent is/was your choice to pursue a career in academia influenced by things other than interest in a subject?

Miscellaneous

What is the best Schrödinger’s Cat joke? (featuring my favourite photo of my cats – Saba (on the left of the photo) and Google)

What are some witty and amusing things you have heard on an airplane?