Watch Hope Jahren Explain the Consequential Beauty of Nature

Hope Jahren found herself in the spotlight in March after writing an opinion piece for the New York Times about the unique struggles women in STEM face. The article painted a bleak portrait of young women turning away from careers in the laboratory, many of them after being sexually harassed.

But as seriously as Jahren takes the ills of the STEM community—she says one of her most important duties as a professor is to guide former students through abusive work situations—her memoir Lab Girl is just as serious about the wonders of a life in science. Since the book came out in April, it’s been warmly received by critics and readers alike, and spent several weeks on the Times best seller list. Jahren was even named to the TIME 100 as “science’s great communicator.”

“People are like plants,” Jahren says in a new trailer for the book. “They grow toward the light.” And with its roots in rocky but rich soil, Lab Girl, too, grows toward the light.