1. One of the most delightful surprising things I learned as I progressed through my scientific training was realising that storytelling was a major & essential part of being a scientist. Whether writing papers, grants, or presenting a poster/talk, storytelling was a core skill.

2. Of course no one told me this explicitly but looking around at the PIs & postdocs made it clear that arguably the most powerful skill they had was taking data & magically transforming it into a cohesive clear narrative w/ a point a view, something new to say, & an agenda.

3. Just as no two novelists write identical novels, no scientist would tell the same story, even if given the exact same data to work with. In many ways how we tell stories is as unique to us as our fingerprints. What stories we choose to tell says so much about us as scientists.

4. Compared to other scientific skills like experimental design or basic lab skills, learning to tell stories was & is enormously difficult (it's a skill that you never stop developing & honing, so the learning never ends). But learning this skill is rarely formalised in a class.

5. While practice is obviously key to learning the art of storytelling in science I personally I found that I learned as much by observing & reading & talking to people. Discussing, in particular following a socratic method of asking questions & debating is also extremely useful.

6. For me at least, the process of converting data into a story is the most fun & satisfying part of doing science (it might also be the hardest, but that's why it's so satisfying when it comes together). In my opinion, it is a skill that is not celebrated & talked about enough.