Biology: Live it, Love it, Learn it

This is loosely based on the "Life Lessons from Life Sciences" posting that I promised Indigo last week. The title, however, has been changed to reflect the content a little better. And to give credit where credit is due, this is Adam's signature line that he always says at the end of his "Good, Bad and Ugly" improv game when he is "Bob the Biologist". Hilarious.

Warning: today's posting is VERY BORING, and mainly only funny to other people who are currently studying the same material as me. But since I've immersed myself in the world of proteins for this exam, my brain can't think of anything else to write about. So get out now if you don't want to A. fall asleep at your desk B. decide I am the least funny, geekiest person in the world C. decide you hate me, and need to torture the person who tortured you with this post D. gouge out your own eyes E. all of the above. You have been warned.

I’ve been studying a lot for my upcoming exam; my last exam of undergrad. It’s a pretty boring class called “The Molecular Biology of Proteins”. Ew. Anyway, I’ve had an amazing revelation during my studying for this exam. A revelation that must somehow be incorporated into my book (Also, the revelation was greatly helped by my professor, who taught us that it’s important to put complex and seemingly irrelevant ideas into the context of life). Maybe in a wedding vow or something. That remains to be seen.

What I realized during my studying is that understanding people can be as simple as understanding proteins, and relationships with other people can be explained by the simple rules that govern protein interactions. These are the life lessons from the life sciences:

1. The effect of a person going through a life-changing experience is determined by how the person responds to that change, and both the person and/or their interaction with their environment can be affected. It is incredibly similar to the effect of a mutation (“life changing experience”) on a protein (“person”). The person might:
i. Become more stable, less stable, or stay the same.
ii. Have difficulty interacting with the people they used to be close with.
iii. Gain new functions and abilities. This can be good (changing diet) or bad (smoking, drinking, etc…).
iv. Become completely useless.
v. Cling to a bunch of other people just like them and form a club/gang/government that slowly or quickly destroys society. OK, this might be taking it a little too far.

2. In a city, there are tens of thousands of people and a person needs to find one specific life partner. Just like within a cell, there are tens of thousands of proteins, and a protein needs to find one specific binding partner. It just seems so unlikely, how will a person/protein find their life/binding partner?
i. There has to be lots of chemistry.
ii. A person may try to have a relationship with lots of people that seem like they might be right before they find the right one.
iii. You can tell a relationship is wrong because it’s just not the right fit.

3. Relationships between people are very similar to relationships between proteins, and the effect of a person-person interaction on the constituent people can be similar to the effects of protein-protein interactions on the constituent proteins.
i. People often need to change slightly once they are in a relationship to stay in the relationship (the “induced fit” model, for sciencers).
ii. Often, two people are more effective once they are together (but not always).
iii. Sometimes, a person takes on a completely different persona when they are with someone.
iv. When a person is currently in a relationship, it may make them more or less likely to interact with other people, or take part in other hobbies.

Alright, sorry if I made you really bored. But I warned you. This was exciting for me because I got to take a break from studying this kind of thing. Can’t. Wait. To. Be. Done!

Maybe something better will pop into my mind later...