Re: Life / On Stanford, Science, and Allotropes

My life condensed into variably interesting posts on the internet

Background image courtesy of Unsplash

Welcome to Re: Life. I’m Aaryan, a high-schooler based in Sudbury, Canada.

This is the weird place on the internet where I chronicle my projects, thoughts, and things I’m tinkering on - from software to medical devices.

Every post, I share three updates about my life, two things I’ve learned this week, and one quote to get you thinking.

Let’s begin.

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What I’m Up To

:// Last Friday, I was accepted into Stanford’s class of 2027 for Biomechanical Engineering!

You’ve got to love the digital confetti!

Naturally, I’ve accepted their offer, which means that in a few months, I'll be typing up these newsletters from Palo Alto. Reality still hasn't quite sunk in yet.

Once again, the thank-you list for this is practically endless, but I wanted to use this opportunity to shoutout some especially awesome people:

The (Abridged) List

→ Mrs. Peloso, Mr. Oberthier, and all my other teachers from LEPSS

→ Chris Deutsch from Lofty Ventures, for his guidance and moral support

→ Nadeem, Damian, and Ian from TKS

→ Diana Chang and Adam Majmudar, for giving me objective feedback on my writing

→ Ben Walters, Arun Anand, and Yasmine Rais for their constant mentorship

→ Dr. Martin Holcik and Matthew Jerabek, for their support with LightIR

→ And, of course, my parents. Without them, I quite literally wouldn’t be here right now ;)


:// The day after receiving that news, I presented LightIR at the Sudbury Regional Science Fair. I was fortunate to receive the best-in-fair award, and the opportunity to present this device at the Canada-Wide Science Fair (CWSF) in Edmonton, Canada.

With that, another round of massive thank-yous goes to Nicole Chiasson, Chris Polishcuk, Cas Krane, Larissa Puls, and all the SRSF judges for making this possible.

A snippet of my research display at the SRSF. See the public version here.

:// Things are definitely ramping up. Right now, I’m rapidly iterating on LightIR: miniaturizing the device, polishing up the software, and absorbing anything I can about cancer, AI, and spectroscopy. Stay tuned for more updates!

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Brain Food

:// Limestone and marble are chemical allotropes. This means they have the same molecular formula (CaCO₃), and their difference arise from the atoms arranging differently in space. 

:// Human tears contain several antimicrobial proteins, such as lysozyme and lactoferrin, that can kill several types bacteria. Some biologists have posited that this is why people tear up after eye trauma - to defend against pathogens. 

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Thought of the Week

Serial entrepreneur Derek Sivers on finding new ideas:

“Inspiration will never make the first move. ”

Creativity only catches up to those who don’t wait for it. Act, act, act, and the sparks will eventually fly.