Today I would like to introduce our R&D department to you. And that department consists of exactly two people: Doctor Helen Markovics and Professor Burt Twostone.
R&D department gathering samples
They have been doing a lot of behind the scenes work at the camp for a while now. Helen’s area of expertise is primarily biology and biochemistry. She is helping a great deal with furthering our understanding of the local flora and fauna. One of the more practical applications of her skills was identifying edible plants that we could grow in our gardens. Burt used to teach physics, but he longed to do some hands-on work. He studies the properties of non-newtonian fluids such as quicksand, and his knowledge of electricity has been helpful in doing the installation of the photovoltaic panels and eletrical wiring around the camp properly.
But aside from their qualifications, what I value most about them is their thirst for more knowledge and their dedication to solving any problem thrown at them. They are often fully absorbed by their work. On the downside this also means that they do not tend to socialize a lot. I was actually suprised to see them at the Christmas party. You might have noticed Helen in the pictures I shared, though I am not sure where Burt was at the time.