[ It doesn't work. He's instantly reminded of his sister's enthusiastic, unprompted lectures on whatever she was studying or the significance of her fieldwork. The smile that comes to Genis's face is half amusement and half embarrassment. ]

Well, we still need to stay on topic for the class... [ There's something to be said for going off the rails. He wonders now if his sister's colleagues ever had to rein her in. ] Let's do the history of vaccines. It doesn't need to focus on one country. This way we can cover a pretty wide area geographically.