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The ‘Random Walk’ of a Biologist – Graham Daborn
Abstract:
In mathematics, a ‘random walk’ is a feature of probability theory: technically “a stochastic process that describes a path consisting of a succession of random movements in some mathematical space”. (Sometimes non-mathematicians refer to it as a ‘drunkard’s walk’). In biology it is used to describe the apparently random paths taken by animals over time as they react instantaneously to a variety of stimuli. For many people, it might also be applied as a description of their life. It certainly applied to mine. A number of years ago some students on board the SV Concordia asked me how I ended up at Acadia. In reflecting upon that I realized that there was no point in my life in which I could have forecast where I would be or what I would be doing five years later. As Robbie Burns once wrote: ”The best laid schemes o’ mice and men/Gang aft agley.” The path was a succession of failures, surprise opportunities, and the consequences of human frailty. I couldn’t be happier – I think.

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