I often run into readers who recognize me from my picture in The Lake Report who for the most part like what I write about even if some of the material is a little odd and off the beaten path of current hot issues and politics.

For their interest and support I’m most grateful. What most readers seem to enjoy are the perspectives and subject matter, which they might not ordinarily read about, especially in a local newspaper.

The topics range widely from how global climate change over hundreds of thousands of years influenced migration patterns of our prehuman ancestors, to human evolution over the last five to six million years, creation stories from the beginning of the universe to stars, to life itself, the origins of moral behaviour, black holes and even speculation about what might become of our species, earth and the sun.

I’ve enjoyed learning and writing about those and other topics for much the same reasons I would imagine my readers do: we are curious and we want to understand as much as we can about who we are, what our place is in the grand scheme and, like very compelling plays or novels, we want to know how it all might turn out.

To which end, science, especially in the last two centuries made staggering contributions to creation stories from the Big Bang to particles and forces, carbon-based life and so on … but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s start at the beginning. 

For much of my career I was a practicing neurologist and neuroscientist. Both were closely related because many of the patients I cared for suffered from disorders involving peripheral nerves or motor nerve cells and the scientist in me explored both. 

I was fortunate because, like a bevy of other young neurologists, neurosurgeons, pathologists and neuroscientists, we were free to immerse ourselves in our interests with a lot of support from like-motivated and collegial colleagues in the heyday of Western University’s novel and spanking new combined department of clinical neurological sciences. 

It was a wonderful Camelot period for all of us and we flourished.

But so involved was I in what consumed me, that I paid little attention to science writ wider such as astrophysics to quantum physics, chemistry, evolutionary biology and beyond.

Then, I read an interview in the New York Times by Dennis Overbye, one of my favorite science writers, with Chris Stringer, a London-based anthropologist who had just published his book, “Lone Survivor: How We Came To Be The Only Humans On Earth.” 

The interview and book captivated me and opened a whole new world — the story of human evolution. So bitten, I began to read much more widely in science. 

The key was to read excellent books by authors such as Stringer, journals such as Nature and Science and selected speciality journals.

Gradually, I learned enough to write a wide-ranging book, published in 2016, which I titled “Perspectives.” It covered everything from the beginnings of the universe to evolution, the human brain, to artificial intelligence, culture and religion. 

Once bitten, I took the advice of Steven Weinberg, a particle physicist and Nobel Prize winner, who wrote “If you want to know something, teach it.”

That’s precisely what I’ve tried to do through a succession of six-week series at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library, beginning with the Camelot years in physics between 1900 and 1930, and others which followed.  

Perhaps the best series were based on the yearly Nobel awards in physics, chemistry and medicine or physiology, because these are based on excellent studies by excellent scientists and very aptly summarized by Nobel committees.

In every instance, the challenge was to first understand what each laureate did, write about it for The Lake Report and then share what I learned with others at the Niagara-on-the-Lake library in a way that hopefully made sense to the readership and audience without dumbing the material down.

That was the challenge for the InfoHealth series, sponsored by the NOTL library, for 12 years and a great way to learn about what works for lay audiences, who were more than intelligent enough but not familiar with science-based material.  

Finally, why The Lake Report in the title of this article? Because: what other local paper in Canada publishes such crazy stuff?

That says a lot for the community where we live.

In a similar fashion, the Niagara-on-the-Lake library has fostered literacy and interest in science and medicine by their programs at the library.

Sure, we get all steamed up about this or that hot topic or project, but we also care, and we can see beyond our noses to be interested and contribute in all kinds of ways.

It’s one more reason why Niagara-on-the-Lake and region is such a special place to live — our very own Camelot.

Dr. William Brown is a professor of neurology at McMaster University and co-founder of the InfoHealth series at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library.