Your secret laboratory.
Hold space for playful curiosity.
We can all have a secret lab.
You don't need tools, credentials, or connections to get started in research.
You don't need beakers with bubbling potions.
You don't need a lab coat.
You don't need formal space.
You need a calm and catalyzed mind.
A lab is a space where curiosity leads, and ideas take shape.
A playground for intellectual promiscuity. A space where wonder overrides the fear of failure.
In this LAB SNACK, I share how I learned that your lab is something you create and hold for yourself.
Step 1: Catalyst → A Cave of Wonders
My first lab belonged to my step-grandfather, Donald—a metallurgist and engineer who didn't trust computers.
His lab was an office overflowing with schematics, half-built bird feeder defences, and an improvised wet lab where he propagated plants.
He had a large desk with a view through expansive windows on a steep forested slope into a sprawling valley.
Lots of impressive pens. Stacks of texts.
To an untrained eye, the place was a museum.
To anyone with a flicker of curiosity- the place was, without question - the laboratory of an insatiable mind.
Each visit sparked wonder. I'd flip through engineering textbooks and fiddle with mechanisms, and Donald would explain some mechanism or principle to me.
Donald saw a smouldering fuse and sparked it into a roaring flame.
He knew what he was doing.
Step 2 → Understanding: A Real Wet Lab
In grad school, I quickly realised classes weren't for me —I wanted to build.
So, I joined a startup and worked in a real wet lab, developing polymer-based materials to replace human cadavers in neurosurgical training.
It felt like I had stepped into the romantic fantasy I had envisioned in my grandfather's basement. I earned patents, became a "real" inventor, and nearly failed grad school because I spent too much time in the lab and not enough time studying.
But I learned something more profound: the magic wasn't in the lab—it was in the people, the mix of rational optimism, skeptical reflection, and a willingness to tinker.
Our curated vibe was the actual mechanism of creation.
Step 3: Realisation → My Lab is My Notes App
Today, my lab isn't a place. It's wherever I am.
I browse papers on my phone and fantasize about possible product features.
I prototype ideas on my laptop with headphones on.
I have billions of dollars of research tools at my fingertips—Grok, Claude, ChatGPT. The barrier to invention has never been lower, but the need to cultivate a research vibe has never been greater.
Too many people believe that barriers exist to actualizing their inventive ideas.
Too many people miss the opportunity of the present moment because they believe they lack access to the right environment.
You no longer need permission.
All you need is curiosity and a willingness to persist in your exploration.
We need to spark every fuse.
LAB SNACKS → A Shared Space to Explore
This newsletter is my lab—a place to spark wonder by exploring the boundaries of what's possible.
My lab isn't a place—it's a set of ideals and ideas that I'll be sharing with you.
Where's your lab?