| When I was a kid first getting into human biology and performance, what got me interested was the realization that I could question everything and then go find the answer. Sometimes, the answer wasn’t there waiting in a book. Sometimes, I had to actually search for the answer in the real physical world. That was exciting to me, and I’ve never stopped. As time wore on, I practiced this kind of “layman’s science” in every aspect of my life. No, the layman scientist’s science isn’t one of P-values, peer reviews or double blinded placebo controls. It’s more about case studies, anecdotes and N=1 experimentation. It’s email threads and late night sessions with friends where we’re batting around ideas, shooting them down, and coming around to other views, always honing our edge. It’s simply trying stuff. When I was doing everything right by the book and getting all my miles in as an endurance athlete, eating a healthy high-carb diet rich in whole grains, and suffering like hell for it, I had to explore another way. I did something the average doctor or sport scientist would have recommended against—stopped running so much and dropped grains altogether. That looked bad on paper if you asked most experts, but it’s the only thing that saved me. It paid off. It’s trying stuff and being open to the outcome. It’s moving with reality, not against it. This is how you should do serious, peer-reviewed research. This is how you should live your life. This is how you should conduct your relationships. This is how you should work out in the gym. Try stuff. Observe what happens. Accept what happens. Accept the reality, the truth, and make conclusions based on that and that only. Oh, and discuss it with other people. What else can you do? How do you do “science”? Let me know in the comment section of New and Noteworthy. | 
