A cactus doesn't live in the desert because it likes the desert; it lives there because the desert hasn't killed it yet. Hope Jahren More Quotes by Hope Jahren More Quotes From Hope Jahren Ask a science professor what she worries about. It won't take long. She'll look you in the eye and say one word: 'Money.' Hope Jahren you money science long In New England, the pin oak thrives, its leaves tipping to a thorny point in a good-natured impression of its evergreen neighbor, the holly bush. Hope Jahren point new neighbor impression During the mid-1990s, I collected thousands of hackberry fruits from trees all across the Midwest. I chemically analyzed each seed in order to formulate an equation relating the hackberry's mineral makeup to the summer temperature under which it grew. Hope Jahren trees seed makeup summer My father's schooling during the 1930s was heavy with memorization; eight decades later, he is reaping the benefits. Hope Jahren he 1930s heavy father The deadnettle is the Punxsutawney Phil of the plant world: short of stature but stout of heart. At the first hint of winter's wane, its stem rises from the ground, and a green, grasping hand of sepals unclenches to divulge two silky-white petals, one of which unfurls straight up toward the sky. Hope Jahren green sky heart winter