I am not a big fan of movies, but last weekend, my three year old son forced me to watch “Flubber” with him, which is a 1997 family comedy about a kooky, but genius science professor (Robin Williams) who invents a new energetic material called “Flubber.” My son’s favorite scene was when the cute, giggly “flubber” creatures started dancing around to some catchy Latin tunes. My favorite scene was the absent-minded professor walking into an art class and carrying on a lecture, obviously meant for his physics class, un-phased neither by the confusion of the students nor by the presence of the two nude models in front of his desk.

This cute family flick got me thinking – does a scientific genius always require the absence of skills that human race has been evolving over thousands of years? Skills, like talking to other humans so that they understand us. Making other people feel comfortable around us, thus allowing us to build strong communities and survive as a species. Abilities, like reading facial expressions of our audience to make sure that we are not presenting a physics lecture to a room-full of art students, or simply not boring our audience to death. Read more »