She smiles, wry, despite herself. "It doesn't have anything to do with someone being stupid. It has to do with context. If I had months, I could teach most of the people here the theory behind my research, even if I don't have the tools to practice it."

She sits back, though, giving up on the book for the moment. "At its most basic level, I study how the development of living things suggests information about how their ancestors evolved over time. Mostly in humans, though I have colleagues who focus on other organisms. There are a lot of traits that are inborn, lots that aren't, and lots more that are a blend of nature and environment. I'm trying to tease out which are which and how they work."