Discovery(Diane Ackerman)

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The word "discovery"literally means, uncovering something that's hidden from view. But what really happens is a change in the viewer.The familiar offers comfort few can resist, and fewer still want to disturb. But as relatively recent inventions such as the telescope and microscope have taught us, the unknown has many layers. Every truth has geological strata, and you can't have an orthodoxy without a heresy. The moment a newborn opens its eyes, discovery begins. I learned this with a laugh one mornig after delivering a calf. When it lifted up its fluffy head and looked at me, its eyes held the absolute bewilderment of the newly born. A moment before it has the even black nowhere of the womb, and suddenly its world was full of colour, movement and noise. I've never seen anything so shocked to be alive.