--- description: "People are like plants, they grow toward the light" title: Watch Hope Jahren Explain the Consequential Beauty of Nature image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50f315460c898988/69889b77cd1bba5c0b7016f9/lab-girl.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Hope Jahren Explain the Consequential Beauty of Nature by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2016 3:37 PM CUT  Knopf by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 13, 2016 3:37 PM CUT Hope Jahren found herself in the spotlight in March after writing an [opinion piece](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/she-wanted-to-do-her-research-he-wanted-to-talk-feelings.html "undefined") 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_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101874937?tag=timecom-20 "undefined") is just as serious about the wonders of a life in science. Since the book came out in April, it’s been [warmly received](http://www.npr.org/2016/04/22/475228342/lab-girl-an-homage-to-the-wonders-of-all-things-green "undefined") by [critics and readers](http://time.com/4276980/hope-jahren-lab-girl-interview/ "undefined") alike, and spent several weeks on the _Times_ best seller list. Jahren was even named to the [TIME 100](http://time.com/4301342/hope-jahren-2016-time-100/ "undefined") 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4401817/lab-girl-hope-jahren-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4401817/lab-girl-hope-jahren-video/"},"headline":"Watch Hope Jahren Explain the Consequential Beauty of Nature","datePublished":"2016-07-13T15:37:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:10:51.795Z","description":"'People are like plants, they grow toward the light'","url":"https://time.com/4401817/lab-girl-hope-jahren-video/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50f315460c898988/69889b77cd1bba5c0b7016f9/lab-girl.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50f315460c898988/69889b77cd1bba5c0b7016f9/lab-girl.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"lab girl","caption":"","creditText":"Knopf","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4401817/lab-girl-hope-jahren-video/","name":"Watch Hope Jahren Explain the Consequential Beauty of Nature"}}]}] ```