The Butterfly Effect
Ten years ago I met a lepidopterist, a fanatic for butterflies. During butterfly season, Stuart Weiss, who has a background in conservation ecology and a PhD from Stanford University, would go clambering through the Santa Clara Mountains in search of monarchs, checkerspots and other favorite butterflies on their migratory path to Mexico. And then he realized something that would change his life: The process of transforming a caterpillar into a butterfly was very similar to the ripening of a wine grape.
