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.
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