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One of my favorite artists is Charles Harper (1922-2007). He made modern art of nature as prints, posters, and book illustrations. One of my favorite books is The Golden Book of Biology illustrated by Charles Harper. His depiction of animals and other science subjects are simple yet exciting with his use of shapes, colors, and patterns. He combined science and art beautifully.
I don’t love science like some scientists, but I do like science. When I was in school, I found science the most challenging of my school subjects because I wanted to just get a right answer to a question, but science often does not just have an answer to a question. Sometimes a science question has complex answers or one question leads to another question rather than an answer or a science question does not have an answer because it is unknown. I chose to study science in college and graduate school because it was challenging. Along the way, my appreciation for science grew. There are many unknowns in science and there is always something new to discover. Science is about investigating the wonders of nature. Science invokes a sense of awe about the world. Science has taught me patience, humility, problem-solving, appreciation of life, and more.
When I was a postdoc at Stanford University, I did basic cancer research with other researchers in our laboratory by investigating protein-protein interactions involved in signaling, cell cycle regulation, and cell growth. Cancer is complex and there will probably never be a single cure for it. There are many forms of cancer so you can’t have one treatment to cure all of them. Cancer refers to a group of different diseases that are similar in that there is uncontrolled division of cells. Most of the time, cells grow and divide orderly. When cells become old or damaged, they die and new cells replace them. However, in cancer, old cells do not die and instead divide over and over again and form new, abnormal cells which can cause a tumor. If the tumor is malignant, it can spread to nearby areas. One of the reasons cancer is hard to fight is because cancer is constantly evolving. It can mutate and develop resistance to treatment. There is surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and other treatments for cancer. Each of these have issues or side effects. The future for cancer research needs to focus on particular cancers and learn to detect each cancer earlier, stall its progress, treat it, and prevent it. Although we may never defeat cancer, we can keep it running.
I think science and art have some strong connections. Seeing pictures can help with scientific thinking. Scientists often use diagrams, graphs, and pictures to help with discoveries. The images let them imagine and test new ideas and show their findings. Sometimes drawing or making visuals of science concepts helps to make sense of them and gives different perspectives. Leonardo da Vinci was one of the most influential artists in history, who also left a significant legacy in science as a scientist, inventor, and engineer. He studied science topics like anatomy, botany, zoology, and physics and drew pictures of his scientific observations. He made notes, illustrations, and scientific theories in notebooks. He believed that studying science made him a better artist.
In graduate school, I studied microbiology and a particularly interesting topic I learned about was viruses. A virus is considered a non-living particle instead of a living organism because it can only replicate when it is in a living host organism. A virus consists of DNA or RNA surrounded by protein. Viruses can infect animals, plants, and bacteria. Many but not all viruses cause diseases. Viruses can cause many different infections ranging from mild like the flu to serious like HIV. Vaccines and medication have been developed for some viral diseases. Many viral diseases that were once common or even sometimes fatal like polio, measles, and diptheria are now rare or under control.
The word research means to search and search again. Scientists must repeat their experiments to prove that they are true. They continue searching because new questions develop. Doing science research involves some risk. Some of the most revolutionary and creative ideas in science were unexpected and surprising. Many scientists have moved science forward. Some people did not believe in their pursuits, but that did not stop them. Sometimes their failures and mistakes led them to discoveries. The lesson of science is to know that you will never know everything, but that you never stop wanting to learn things. Science is a journey that keeps going.
I like to cook and a kitchen is similar to a science lab for me. Cooks and scientists measure, separate, and heat substances and work with chemicals. Like a laboratory, a kitchen has water that is used to make mixtures and to clean. Laboratories use hot plates and Bunsen burners for heat to speed up reactions, similar to the use of a stove or oven in a kitchen. In a kitchen, a refrigerator and freezer are used to store food and keep it longer. In a laboratory, refrigerators are used to store chemicals so they keep better and for slowing down reactions. Measuring instruments like cups and spoons are used in the kitchen. In the laboratory, graduated cylinders, beakers, and pipettes are used to measure liquids and a scale is used to measure solids. A recipe in the kitchen is like a procedure or protocol in science. Ingredients and kitchenware in the kitchen are like materials such as chemicals and glassware in science. In the kitchen, you can try new recipes and change recipes in a different way to see what result you get. This is like doing an experiment. Scientists spend a lot of time designing ways to do experiments.
There are many reasons why science is important. Science helps us make sense of the world. Science is found everywhere from small things like bacteria to big things like outer space. Science helps us find medicine, treatment, and cures for many medical problems and diseases. Science helps us develop technology to help make our lives easier.
