Is That Life Forming Before My Eyes? Will I Be in the National Academy of Sciences Someday?

In the age of Xbox, we're not sure how in demand they are as a Christmas gift anymore, but look here, Amazon still sells them. They are "Magic Rocks" kits and if you're of a certain age you may remember how, as a kid, you added "Magic Solution" to pebbles in a container of water and watched colorful crystal pillars grow right before your eyes. You could almost imagine a miniature civilization flourishing among the castles and towers that emerged, like magic, from the liquid.

Some of your peer...