Fascinating!

       I am absolutely amazed by biology. Like every once in a while I think about it and it just floors me how awesome biology is. The random mutations that led us to where we are today - from nothing to single cell organisms to extraordinarily complex people who can do math and build computers and write and communicate and all sorts of other insane things. And the only thing that can cause that progression is random mutations that happen by pure chance. One misplaced nucleotide here, an extra one there, and it all adds up to 3.5 billion years of evolution.
       I can't even explain it - it just absolutely blows my mind if I think about it too long. It's one of those things that the more I learn about it the more amazed by it I am. Because what if, some million years ago, one of those mutations hadn't have happened? We would not be here in the form we are today. I mean sure there probably would be some sort of more intelligent life, but not what we consider "humans" in the form we have today with the history, thoughts and social structures we have. And it's not just that one mutation, it's every mutation that's ever happened to be evolutionary advantageous. Which is a lot of mutations. A hell of a lot.
       Sometimes I just get caught up in these thoughts about how all this happened - how we went from one cell to plants and tiny organisms to things like dinosaurs and mammoths and whales and eventually humans, and how the genes in each of us really aren't all that different, but the have the ability to cause these massive changes that distinguish not only me from you, but us from a fruit fly or a triceratops (or a double-decker triceratops?).
       I guess the fact that I am so amazed by this indicates that I am in the right major. Perhaps that's why chemistry wasn't quite right for me - it doesn't simply fascinate me like this kind of stuff does. And sure, maybe this makes me a huge nerd, but I love learning about this kind of stuff. I don't know how useful knowing it necessarily is for making a better future, but I still think it is really interesting.
       Kind of along the same lines, the way that people have harnessed biology also is really intriguing. Like how we can take human genes, put them into E. Coli, so those E. Coli cells are now making all these proteins that are unique to humans so we can study them further (I use this example because that's what I do in lab). We think that we are so different from a single celled bacteria like E. Coli, but then here we are using their structures to make our own proteins since all this stuff is so universal, and we really aren't all that unique when you really get down to it. All of these mutations may make us super different from each other, but really, it's all the same when you think about it.


Ok that's enough nerding out about biology for on post. Plus it's time to go to microbio lab!