The Wholeness of Life Science
April 21st, 2025 by Robert Smith
I have been interested in life science for over six decades. This has benefited my life and career. As a child, I was fascinated by dinosaurs, extinct mammals, astronomy, chemistry and math. My older brother, cousin and parents taught me. hey encouraged me to study, read and learn. I tried to be as smart as my brother and cousin, but never succeeded. In the process, I became one of the smartest kids my age. I learned that it was better to be a valued member of a great team than to be the best person on a mediocre team. I had superb teachers in elementary and high school and became quite interested in biochemistry. In the 1960s, it was thought that math, physics and chemistry were hard sciences because they were exact with concepts that were obviously true. It was thought that math was the basics of all of physics, which was the basis of all of chemistry. The scientific method was supposed to require testing hypotheses. Just one independent variable at a time was changed while the effect on the dependent variable was observed. This process was thought to be able to answer almost all basic questions. However, the most important questions about life could only be asked in biology and medicine. In some ways, biology seemed to be different and even a little like much of astronomy. Instead of starting with a testable hypothesis, many biologists and astronomers focused on observing and documenting what they saw. They were often amazed by what they saw. Life was not a puzzle to be solved, but an adventure to be enjoyed. Astronomers and biologists often expect the unexpected and are thrilled by new discoveries which can be almost impossible to explain. My education and career in chemistry and life sciences has been a combination of both observation and research that is driven by hypotheses. I learned to be a systems thinker who recognizes the wholeness of life. Everything, from the smallest virus to bacteria, fungi, plants and animals are all part of the biosphere that some call Gaia. Math can be qualitative as it describes networks. As atoms and molecules assemble into organized groups, new properties emerge.
Moreover, all of humanity is closely linked. What we do to one, we do to all. Bidirectional communication is essential. I learned this especially well in my postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland (also known as the ETH-Zurich). For communication to work, it helps to learn foreign languages. I studied German, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese in undergraduate school. In Zurich, my German improved and I learned to speak Italian. Moreover, I was exposed to new ways of thinking. I learned that it was possible for a society to be nonviolent, very concerned about the environment and quite prosperous. I was also part of a research team that did research on reverse micelles. In future years this led to the development of giant vesicles and then nanoparticles that are used in Covid-19 vaccines.
After my time at the ETH-Zurich, I worked at a company that was once called AlliedSignal, but was subsequently bought by Honeywell. One of my job assignments was to go to elementary schools and help teach science and an introduction to genetics. I also worked on the Human Genome Project making plastic models of biopolymers based on their X-ray structures. We called it rapid prototyping. Now it’s called 3D printing. After AlliedSignal, I worked at the Midwest Research Institute on a contract that they had with the National Toxicology Program to study environmental toxins. Subsequently, I became a science advisor for the FDA. They analyze over 200 different foods for over 800 different environmental toxins. I also analyzed many tropical fruits that contain neurotoxins that can cause Parkinson’s disease. Most recently, we started analyzing human milk obtained from Mother’s Milk Banks throughout the USA. My colleagues were also starting a project to use two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to analyze human breath to identify biomarkers for lung cancer.
So, my career in life sciences continues to be fun, exciting and rewarding. I have learned many things, met many brilliant people and worked on exciting projects. I continue to be fascinated by science. I look forward to seeing gene editing being used to make improved foods, produce clean energy, perform bioremediation and develop new life-saving medicines. I have written several books, including Systems Thinking in Medicine and New Drug Discovery. I have also published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and write for the online journal Meer. One of my favorite articles is “The myth of gender differences in intelligence”. Here is the link to it: The Myth of Gender Differences in Intelligence | Meer
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