I’m a relative newcomer to government work, having joined the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about 18 months ago after decades of being a journalist. My job is to assign, write, and edit FDA consumer updates, which are news stories posted on www.fda.gov designed to give consumers important information in language that’s easy to understand—not too technical or bureaucratic.

To endear myself to my new colleagues, I decided to write about anything we saw as boring, leaving them to write about the hotter topics. I’m not easily bored, so I thought this would work as a noble gesture.

Even with this resolve, my heart sank when I was asked to write about regulatory science—one of the FDA’s highest priorities. Do you remember the character Chandler Bing from the TV show Friends? I could hear his voice in my head: “Could this be more boring?”

But I resolutely set about my task, and five consumer updates later, I’m here to tell you that regulatory science is not boring. Not even close.

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