Pendulum

The pendulum Ryland makes in Chapter 2 is a symbol of his scientific acumen. Though he does not yet know who or where he is, his scientific knowledge comes to the forefront of his mind as he attempts to get his bearings and crafts a pendulum out of a spool of nylon thread and a tape measure. Using the pendulum, he is able to determine that there is something off about the gravity he is experiencing, leading him to suspect (correctly) that he is in a centrifuge.

Ryland's research paper

Ryland's research paper, called "An Analysis of Water-Based Assumptions and Recalibration of Expectations for Evolutionary Models" (37), is a symbol of his earlier career as a molecular biologist. Stratt mentions this paper as the reason she chose to contact Ryland when they first meet in Chapter 3, and notes that it apparently caused Ryland to be fired from a...