I always say to my students that being a scientist is like being an explorer, and I really mean that because, in a sense, I think in science we explore the world, the universe around us. Roderick MacKinnon More Quotes by Roderick MacKinnon More Quotes From Roderick MacKinnon Some people look at big things, and other people look at very small things, but in a sense, we're all trying to understand the world around us. Roderick MacKinnon look small-things people world I was a daydreamer. Teachers kept telling me to pay attention. Roderick MacKinnon teachers me pay-attention attention You hear a lot of scientists say the same thing. It doesn't have to be a big thing because the thing about being a scientist is even the little things are big things to us. Roderick MacKinnon say being you little-things I find I get fixed in my ways if I don't change. I think I take too many things for granted. Roderick MacKinnon find things think change I think funding risky projects is very important. Roderick MacKinnon i-think very think important I always say, 'Let your experiment speak to you.' What I mean by that is I - actually, we, or, at least, I'm not smart enough, actually, to guess how nature is working, but by looking and doing the right experiments and paying close attention to the subtleties of it, you start to catch on. Roderick MacKinnon looking you smart nature