At breakfast an engineer tells me about his plans to write a book on the science of art materials, observations that will influence the way many of us think about art. While hiking in some of the most beautiful hills in California, a poet, originally from Sri Lanka, explains how poetry can help heal the wounds of war.  It gets me thinking of a new way to approach my patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome.  Over dinner, a geologist describes her work in Antarctica, studying the bacteria found deep in the ice-encrusted lakes and their amazing art forms.