From Brains to Bio-reactors: My Accidental Return to Science

I left science behind in school. Now it follows me everywhere — in algae, atoms, and algorithms.

I ditched Biology in 10th — and then Physics, Chemistry, and Computer Science in 12th. Went all-in on studying humans for the next decade.
Behaviour. Brains. Social systems. With the occasional detour into statistics, biopsychology, neuropsychology, and neuroscience.

By 2013, I had no reason to revisit life sciences. From 2013 to 2023, it was all human resources, consumer psychology, communication, branding, and behaviour-led strategy.

Then climate-tech came knocking. Suddenly, I’m back to decoding algae, enzyme reactions, material breakdown, supply chains — and now, terms like engineered-microbes, hydrometallurgy, enhanced rock weathering, epigenetic profiling, federated learning, DeFi, particle bots, thermal shielding, neuromorphic computing, mass balance attribution and more.

And this is not from a classroom — but from pitch decks, business models, founder calls, and investment notes.

Climate work is a multidisciplinary memory game. And when founders pitch, they get extremely technical, 10 seconds into the call, assuming you already know the field!

It was extremely difficult at first to dissect their business model but it is getting better everyday.

Whoever has pitched to me so far (for consultation, investments, mentorship), I hope you are doing well! 😁

I never thought I’d return to biology — let alone biochemistry, fluid dynamics, or materials science. But climate-tech doesn’t care about your educational detours. It drags you into complexity and expects you to keep up. And so, here I am — reading IPCC footnotes on a Sunday and decoding synthetic biology startups on a Tuesday. It’s humbling. It’s thrilling. And it’s proof that in the climate space, every discipline has a second act.

Credits

This post is written by Deepa Sai