Greetings to all my friends and family from Stockholm!  This year went quickly with a lot of traveling and a lot of adventures. Some of my favorite photos are in this blog. I got to spend a lot of time in Sweden/Europe for the first half of the year because of my sabbatical. Then in the fall I started teaching again at SFSU: Introductory Biology for more than 300 students. It was more work than I had imagined, since I had never taught it before. It was actually fun to re-learn material that I had not studied for more than 30 years. Photosynthesis and the Krebs cycle were in my mind again.

Research is going well too. We wrote a paper about a very interesting virus that infects malaria parasites. This will be a new line of research for my lab. I am also planning to do some work in the DRC Congo. That trip got postponed because of the unrest in the country, but I am preliminarily planning to get there this summer.  I will soon be in India, for a wedding, and then an exploration of a new project in Manipur. It is always so fulfilling to have these opportunities and I continue to be fortunate with my health and resources.

The world is plagued by many problems: especially concerning to me was the milestone of reaching 8 billion humans on the planet. I am hoping for a major shift in our thinking, but all of us are responsible for the planet. I can’t deny that I am a major contributor to climate change and I am a consumer.  It is hard to celebrate with so many troubles facing our species. But there is also a lot to be grateful for, and a lot of beauty in humanity and nature.  I wish you all a wonderful new year and happy holidays!