Beyond the Lab Bench

Researchers are settling into a cautious equilibrium as the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research technician Brittania Moodie has been leading virtual science workshops for rural students in her home country of Jamaica to help improve access to science education.

Whitehead Institute attracts people that are driven — and often that means people that bring an impressive level of intensity to their hobbies and side projects, too. Some have leaned on their outside interests to find balance and respite during the COVID-19 pandemic — and often as not, they parlay their interests to contribute to the community at the same time.

On the 4th floor of Whitehead Institute, scientists have found a unique way to cope with the rainy period of early spring — a competition where teams of eight try to exercise the most minutes.

The challenges of completing a research project are often compared to a marathon. But it’s not just a metaphor: many biologists are distance runners. Whitehead Institute researchers often look to several miles along the Charles to sort out how to solve a problem—or just to take a break and get out in nature.

Considering that researchers at Whitehead Institute devote their working hours to probing the mysteries of the biological world, it’s no surprise that many scientists and staff are also animal lovers.

For over 30 years, Whitehead Institute has fielded a softball team in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Community Summer Softball league. Created in 1986, just four years after the Institute itself, the Biohazards have helped link past and former Institute personnel and provided a way for people to enjoy themselves outside the lab.

Whitehead Institute is known primarily for biology — but there’s a little geology going on behind the scenes, too.