It was Monday, and Sophia was getting ready for school. Immediately after checking herself in the mirror, she quickly compiled her recent research and printed them out. She then added them to a blue envelope where her previous research was stored.
"Sigh, sigh, okay. I'm ready", Sophia muttered and took two consecutive breaths before heading out of her room.
Beatrice had already finished making breakfast, and seeing Sophia ready for the day, she smiled. "There's the queen. How was your night cariño mío?"
Hearing those words, Sophia stopped in her tracks and sized up Beatrice with a questionable stare. "Uhh, what?" Beatrice shrugged and replied while placing the cutlery on the table: "I'm taking lessons in the language of Spanish. Don't look at me like that."
Sophia wanted to ask why, but the time on her watch was telling her there was no time for small talks, so she hurriedly ate her breakfast, before running to the limousine where the chauffeur was usually stationed.
"Uhh, Sophia, you forgot to pack up your cookies!" Beatrice shouted as she hurriedly ran to the long car and handed it to Sophia before the vehicle began moving.
"Thank you, aunt. See you soon!" Sophia blew her a kiss before the limousine drove off the garden.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
School Premises, Grade 9.
It was the third period and the biology teacher was giving a lecture to the class. "There is one viable reason multitasking of the brain is impossible. One of which is that the human brain was not biologically engineered to perform more than one operation at a time. The brain is a complex ecosystem that's for sure, and it processes billions of signals per second, but task wise, it effectively handles one task at a time."
While the teacher was teaching, someone raised her hand. "Yes, Tina. Do you have any questions?" The student then stood up and looked at the biology teacher with clear eyes. "One question. Do breathing and walking count as multitasking? Clearly, the brain is performing two different operations."
The teacher smiled and shook his head. "Yes, that's true, but it's not considered as doing two things at the same time. You see, the brain is divided into two parts: The conscious part and the subconscious part. You should have understood this term.
Things like decisions and making judgements are categorized into the conscious part of the brain, while things like breathing, chewing gum, walking, sleeping—they are categorized into the subconscious part of the brain. We don't necessarily need to think about those actions.
"The conscious part of the brain handles more than a task very poorly, and constantly attempting to do more than two things divides our attention, at the end of the day the brain gets overwhelmed and fatigued, resulting in poor performance.
"The point is, your brain cannot multitask. Even if you could do it, which you can't, you would be doing more harm to your brain than good. Do you understand?"
The female student nodded vigorously and sat down. Throughout the explanation, Sophia was pondering. What the teacher said might be correct, but he still thought it was not entirely correct. Just like the teacher said, the brain was not biologically engineered to perform two operations at the same time, but what if it could be artificially engineered to counter such shortcomings? Sophia saw this as a point to base her research on when she gets home.
Just as Sophia wanted to ask the biology teacher a question, the bell rang, indicating the end of class. Sophia sighed. Why was an engaging class always short?
Sophia took out the textbooks to prepare for the next class. As she stood up and prepared to head to the next class, the biology teacher called her name. "Yes sir", Sophia said as she approached him.
"Meet me in the biology lab during the break", the teacher informed Sophia before leaving the class. That statement made Sophia agitated. Could it be that he had read my research? Was he calling me to compliment me for a job well done? All these questions were swirling in her mind as she anticipated their meeting. She cooled down her excitement and sat down for the next class.
I hope this turns good, Sophia prayed in her mind.
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Break time.
Sophia strolled to the biology lab with shaky hands. She could not believe that after all these years, she could finally get some recognition for her work. She could win an award for her findings, and even better, the chances of being a well-known neurologist would be very high. All these thoughts made her giddy.
To be honest, doing this research takes a lot of her energy and time. Not that she was complaining though. It was just that it was preventing her from enjoying the things her peers do like going to parties, hanging out with friends et cetera. Although she does not fancy these things anyway.
Entering the lab, she saw the teacher writing something in a book. A student left the biology with a jar filled with dead snakeskin. Sophia heaved a deep breath before flashing her best smile and informing the teacher of her presence.
"Oh, hi Sophia. Take a seat", the biology teacher said as he pointed to a seat opposite of him. Sophia sat down and tried to make herself comfortable. She tried to study her teacher's expression but couldn't find anything. His face was almost expressionless.
"Two days ago, you sent me twenty paged PDFs containing one of your recent researches on… the human brain, right?" Sophia nodded, her anticipation threatening to burst out of her chest.
Then he stared at the monitor's screen and nodded intermittently. "These are good. Mhmm, these are good. You have a unique gift, I'll tell you that Sophia. So far, there s the best research I've seen for a girl your age."
Uh oh, that's not good. What does he mean by a girl my age? Does he not think these were good.? She spent a lot of time gathering those findings man! She had never focused on anybody's face than this teacher before.
After leaving the mouse, he pulled away from the monitor and rested his back on the seat and removed his glasses. "Sophia, let me be totally honest with you. All these, researches of yours are good, but, sigh, this is just not good enough to gain approval from the board.
"But hey, that does not mean all these findings are a waste though. These are good, really good. The only thing is that these theories you put down right here do not have any solid proof to back them up. Until it is properly researched and verified, I'm afraid I cannot approve of this. I'm sorry."