Final day of March daily thoughts

26th March - listen here. I quite like that I have become "Simon the scientist!"

Day 4: Nature

Over the last couple days I have been discussing the marvels that science has revealed, both of the very big and the very small. Science has shown us exquisitely how there is so much more to the world around us whether it is in the skies at night or in the hugely complex world of our cells. I find it quite sad that many people’s encounter with science is only through boring school lessons, or through eccentric academics in the press. This is because as a working scientist my personal experience is quite different – science helps me to discover new perspectives and reveals an exciting world that goes far beyond what I can often imagine. As both a scientist and a Christian I often see similarities between nature and my faith as these different ways of understanding the world both point beyond my immediate situation and needs.

Although all of us have to face up to the practicalities and responsibilities of everyday living, I often think that most of us do not give enough time to stopping, thinking and trying to see the larger picture. It is so easy to become overwhelmed with the everyday chores that we don’t find time to look down a microscope, look at the stars or even take a walk in the country. Of course doing any of this does not make problems go away, but by gaining a sense of perspective we also gain a new way of looking at things. You don’t have to be a religious believer to gain the benefits of contemplation and meditation – just go to the zoo or into your garden and marvel at the world around you!

Day 3 of March daily thoughts

Thursday 25th March, listen here or:

Day 3: The small

As a biochemist I am interested in trying to understand how the millions of chemicals in our cells interact in order to create a living body. However, the biggest challenge to studying the molecules of life is dealing with how small and quite how many of them, there actually are. In order to do this I have to use indirect methods on simplified systems and then extrapolate the results to build more complex models. To do this I regular visit the new “synchrotron” particle accelerator just outside Oxford to bombard purified versions of the chemicals I want to study with Xrays. From measuring how the Xrays scatter when they hit the tiny molecules we can get a lot of detail as to the shape of the chemicals, and then hopefully use this information go on and design new medicines. The reason we have to use Xrays is because the chemicals are so small that visible light itself is too big to actually illuminate them!

Even as a biochemist who studies these small molecules I still find it difficult to appreciate that every living creature, and indeed every living cell of every living creature, is a highly complex but exquisitely organised mixture of chemicals that perform remarkable feats on a sub-microscopic level. Because of this some people like to refer to us as “complex machines”, however I do not think this title quite does us justice. Each one of us is more complex, and better designed, than the most complicated of human inventions. From this perspective it is no wonder that many people use spiritual language when trying to grasp how life actually works. Far from being an enemy of spirituality, I find that science gives me a heavenly perspective! The beauty and complexity of the natural world reminds me that there is far more to life than can be seen.

Daily Thoughts on BBC radio

24th March 2010 on BBC Radio Solent. Listen here or for the script:

Day 2: A matter of scale

The other day a friend emailed a link to a website called “the scale of everything”. This is a really cool animation which, by using a slider, allows you to zoom from the very smallest thing we know about - quantum foam at a fraction of a yoctometer - right up to the largest thing we know about - the size of the whole universe at a couple of hundred yottometers. Interestingly, on the scale between the very big (yottometers) and the very small (yoctometers), humans lie pretty much slap in the middle. In other words (and something that I find quite mind boggling) the universe is about as much bigger than you are, as you are bigger than the smallest known atomic particle.

Although science has built tools that can examine both the very big and the very small, the sizes involved are so vast that we mostly have to rely on indirect, and somewhat complicated, methods to see what’s out there. This may seem to some people to be a bit of a pointless pursuit, however it suddenly becomes rather a lot more relevant when we realise that the objects that lie beyond our normal comprehension can actually affect our everyday lives quite significantly. For instance, a single radioactive particle could lead to a mutation that causes cancer.

One of the best parts of being a scientist is trying to understand this “other” perspective. I find science exciting because it takes me out of my normal everyday experience and introduces me to a world that is still only partially explored. If I get bored or am feeling unmotivated I regularly go back to the “scale of everything” website because it shows me how little of the world I actually experience, and reminds me that there’s an awful lot more out there than just me!

More Daily thoughts - BBC Solent

23rd March 2010 on BBC radio Solent. Listen here.

Day 1: The big

For Christmas this year I got some binoculars – not that I wanted binoculars for any particular reason, but rather my Mum put me on the spot and it was the first thing that came to my mind!

After unsuccessfully trying to look at some birds and a cat in my garden, and even more disappointingly discovering that I couldn’t really see into any of my neighbours windows, I decided to turn my binoculars skywards and have a look at the stars.

Now, I’m a biologist by training and have spent so much of the last few years looking down microscopes that I have seldom thought about the bigger things that live above my head. Yes of course I glimpse stars when I am out at night, and see star charts and pictures in magazines, but this was the first time I ever tried to examine the heavens for myself.

My first look at the stars through binoculars will live with me for a long time. In the past I never quite appreciated why people spent nights in cold fields looking at stars, but now I know! It’s really difficult to explain in words the experience of gazing at the vastness of the universe, knowing that the light you are seeing has travelled trillions of miles and has taken billions of years just to reach your eyes.

Of course, very few of us will ever escape this earth and visit these stars, however, if you ever need a sense of perspective, and want an insight into another world, I’d recommend grabbing some binoculars and having a look at the stars. It’s so easy to do, and I promise it won’t disappoint.