John always knew that he wanted to be a writer, but his journey from grad student to contributing correspondent for Science wasn’t always clear. Now, John has spent half of his adult life traveling or living abroad, writing about science stories around the world. Hear him describe his rough start to graduate school, how he graduated, and how he made the career transition to journalist.

Dr. John Bohannon is a Science contributing correspondent and writes for Wired and other magazines. His stories range from civilian casualties in Afghanistan, where he embedded with NATO forces in 2010, to the first experimental test of people's ability to distinguish paté from dog food. He runs the annual "Dance Your PhD" contest. He has a PhD in molecular biology from Oxford University. Biggest Struggle

• Not getting anything to work for the entire first year of his PhD

Worst Moment

• Was having a lab mate actually find the mutation that he was looking for after he had given up on finding it

Best Moment

• Finishing the PhD

Mindful Minutes Segment

• Habit: Great conversations to work out stories and ideas
• Book: The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Productivity Tool: Python
• Best Advice: Get back to work (there was a point where he wasn't doing much science)
• Hobbies: Brazilian jujitsu and yoga
• Alternative PhD study: Something with computer programing

Contact

• Twitter
• Website
• Ted Talk
• Dance Your PhD

Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music - Happy Rock