WHAT DO BERNIE SANDERS, HARRISON FORD, and Matt LeBlanc have in common? They all worked as carpenters before becoming famous in movies and politics. Most carpenters are not hoping for fame, nor are they working in their craft temporarily while planning for another career. Carpenters love what they do and are happy to build rewarding careers that will last a lifetime. Carpentry is a craft that primarily involves making things from wood. Most carpenters use their skills to build and repair residential and commercial buildings. Within the construction industry, there are several types of...

NO CAREER HAS BEEN MORE ROMANTICIZED in novels, television shows, and movies than that of a police detective. The real world of criminal investigation has little in common with the cool, fast-paced, slick-talking fictional version everyone has become so familiar with. Sometimes the job is dangerous and heart pounding, but you do not spend most of your time tailing criminals to exotic parts of the world to unravel a mystery loaded with international intrigue. For most criminal investigators, the work involves solving crimes much closer to home by tirelessly piecing together shreds of evidence...

EPIDEMIOLOGISTS ARE SCIENTISTS who study diseases and other health risks within specific populations, such as geographical areas, cultures, occupations, demographic groups, or those who are genetically connected. They are "disease detectives," so-called because they are the investigators who discover how and where disease outbreaks start, then find ways to prevent them from spreading and recurring in the future. It is believed that the first epidemiologist was Hippocrates, who studied how the outbreaks of different diseases correlated with environmental factors in Ancient Greece. That was...

SOME OF TODAY'S MOST PROMISING CAREERS can be found in the pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical researchers (also known as pharmaceutical scientists or pharmaceutical chemists) conduct research aimed at improving human health by developing new medications. They spend many hours in laboratories and with computers conducting experiments, analyzing the results, and preparing new drugs for manufacture. These professionals may find novel ways to extract substances from plants; synthesize new medications from chemicals; or design new therapies by combining existing medications in innovative...

AN ELDERLY WOMAN IS FOUND unconscious in a supermarket aisle. Unresponsive, she is rushed to the emergency room. Upon regaining consciousness, she complains of a severe pain in her abdomen. There are many possible reasons for the pain, so a pathologist is called in to help solve the mystery. Blood and urine samples are taken and the pathologist examines them under a microscope. What the pathologist sees leads to a conclusive diagnosis. Now that the cause is known, the medical team can begin treatment. Pathologists are like detectives, fascinated by the process of disease and dedicated to...

HAVE YOU READ ANY GOOD BOOKS lately? If you are a librarian, you undoubtedly have, and you will probably never be at a loss for a good read. Being a librarian at a public library is more than shelving books and being able to recommend a good new novel. Librarians are curators of the written word and data in general. In public libraries those words and a seemingly endless amount of data are contained in everything from newspapers, magazines, and journals, to paperback and hardcover books of both nonfiction and fiction, as well as digital repositories of all kinds. It is a librarian who, every...

THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE is the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the nation and is recognized as one of the most elite in the world. It is a self-contained organization, not part of the FBI or CIA. At the mention of the Secret Service, most people conjure up images of big men in dark suits and sunglasses, surrounding the leader of the free world wherever he goes. Indeed, the agency has a long history of protecting not only presidents, but vice presidents, their families, foreign dignitaries, and even presidential hopefuls. However, this is only part of the Secret Service...

THE GREAT RENAISSANCE ARTIST Leonardo da Vinci said, "The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art." It is hard to disagree with that. The human foot can be a thing of beauty, and usually functions extremely well. But when anything goes wrong with it, the human foot can be a source of nearly unbearable pain and frustration. Considering the amount of work it has to do, bearing up under great pressure as we walk or run, or even when we are only standing still, it is truly remarkable what the fragile human foot can manage. There are 26 bones in the human foot and ankle. That...

YOUR HIGH SCHOOL YEARS ARE A TIME for questioning, for seeking answers and explanations about the mysteries of life you had not noticed before or took for granted when you were younger. You want to know where you stand in your family, among your peers, in the world, and in the universe. Perhaps you feel that you are meant to do something special, something that will make the world a better place. Most of the people who enter the clergy have an experience like this, a feeling that they are being called to serve others through their religion. There are several different ways to enter the...

ART DEALERS ARE ESSENTIALLY SALES PERSONS. They sell art and occasionally buy some themselves, although usually for the purpose of reselling it. In a sense, the art dealer is no different from people selling cars or real estate. The more they know about the product they are selling, the better the job they can do. As an art dealer, especially, you need to know everything about what you are selling. Everyone selling art is going to be passionate about it, urgent to champion some new visionary or to defend an Old Master who has gone out of fashion but whose work still radiates wonder. If you...