by Brendan Lan, SICB journals follower, PhD student

Iobopen.com is hosting a series of blogs based on an article from Outside about “Awe” being good for the brain. We asked IOB authors and social media account followers to share their moments of “Awe” in the field.

Read our next installment below by IOB’s BSKY follower ,Brendan Lan, PhD student in the Sönke lab .

“Despite a societally ingrained fear of bugs, butterflies manage to enchant practically everyone. I mean how could they not? With their intricate patterns, complex shapes, and kaleidoscope of colors, it’s honestly hard to look away. Studying invertebrates in college, there was a sentiment among entomologists that butterflies get too much love from the public – that there are countless other invertebrates just as deserving of the limelight as butterflies. And while I agree as someone who hopes to study arachnids, I’ve been finding myself falling in love with butterflies again.

During a hot summer night walk at Kenting National Park in Taiwan, I came across a gorgeous golden birdwing butterfly and multiple chrysalises nearby. The national park guide pointed them out as 黃裳鳳蝶 and mentioned that this massive insect was endangered, at least in Taiwan. This one had likely come out of its chrysalis earlier that day and was almost done drying. With all of its wings splayed out I saw shimmering, deep yellows contrasted against an almost pitch black patterning under the light from my headlamp. From any angle or distance you viewed this butterfly, it was stunning. From further away your eyes were drawn to the contrasting hindwings in the center while the closer you got the more the scales revealed themselves. I was instantly in awe.

Science is powered by these moments of awe, whether they’re found in a national park, in a classroom, or even in a backyard. Awe is what drives my curiosity and ultimately inspires me to pursue research. I am now working on butterfly wing development as a research tech for the summer and will be starting as a PhD student studying arachnid vision this fall. Throughout this summer I’ve been told that my PhD will be grueling and that I should be prepared to work long hours. And while I definitely am bracing myself for long hours of failed experiments, I’ve been brimming with anticipation all summer to start exploring and finding new wonders to be awed by.

BSKY

‪@brendanlan.bsky.social

Brendan is a SICB journals follower who is also a PhD student in the Sönke lab(our sibling journal’s ICB co author) at Duke University. He works with vision, behavior, sensation , Arachnids, beetles, crabs, and really whatever funky arthropods .