Naturally Obsessed

Naturally Obsessed is a 2009 documentary film that opens a view on the training of scientists and the process of discovery. Shot over three years time in the molecular biology laboratory of Dr. Lawrence Shapiro of the Columbia University Medical Center, the film chronicles how the tool of Xray crystallography enables the discovery of the workings of the AMPK protein molecule, revealing a new path towards the treatment of diabetes and obesity. The focus of the film, however, is mostly on the human side of doing science. Following the emotional ups and downs of three graduate students Robert Townley, Kilpatrick Caroll and Gabrielle Cummberley guided by their professor and laboratory head along the challenging and uncertain journey to the PhD degree, it highlights the qualities that contribute to the making of a scientist, such as persistence, skill in asking the right questions, mastering the needed technology, mentoring and being mentored, collaborating and facing competition.

Naturally Obsessed, a funny, lively, thoroughly absorbing documentary moves viewers with ease and intimacy through a world too often portrayed as boring, nerdy and filled with indecipherable jargon.Much of the film is concerned not so much with the specifics of research, but with what sacrifices people are willing to make for the sake of discovery. This is as it should be the public needs to better understand what goes on in the minds of those working in Ivory Towers. ........

Source: Wikipedia