Your scientific aptitude depends on............YOUR ATTITUDE TO DETAILS

Are you the types who will just see the gross things, or else, have an attitude to details 👀? If you are the one with an approach to gross things and tend to lose focus when it comes to the more delicate features, you may not be the types who will succeed in doing science. For a person to be reasonably successful, or preferably one who will reasonably enjoy doing science is the one who has an attitude to details and who gets triggered by many questions.

The questions that you may ask may be "Why XYZ observation is so and so," and mechanisms behind the same. Once you are successful in deciphering the mechanism, you might try to correlate the same to an existing phenomenon. Correlation to a current aspect becomes some novel finding. Also, that is a relatively standard way of doing science. 

However, if one is extraordinarily lucky in science, or in other words, vigilant, one may end up with an entirely novel phenomenon. Such a unique aspect has a potential to be called as a new discovery. Observing an innovative event is just not enough to be named as a new discovery. There is a lot more to it. One needs to validate this novel phenomenon very rigorously using scientific methods, or sometimes using mathematical models, as well. Such an established novelty then becomes a groundbreaking discovery.

Hence, doing science becomes an ingrained habit. It becomes an indelible personality that motivates one to continually look for newer observations and proving them using various ways. Scientists are not just born, scientists are nurtured and developed. In other words, scientists nurture and develop themselves continuously throughout their lives in the quest and proving of new knowledge.

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An attitude to do life sciences and cell biology…………………….

Life sciences or Biology is none other than ‘LIFE ENERGY’ put into physical matter in an organized fashion.  The keenness to understand and appreciate this ‘LIFE ENERGY’ put into the individualized unit is called the attitude to do life sciences or cell biology.

The earth with its atmosphere is composed of earth/soil, water, and air. All living beings are composed of matter materialized into a highly organized system. The unit of life is a ‘Cell ‘that was discovered by Robert Hooke 353 years ago in the year 1665. Much later, 175 years from 1665 that is in the year 1889 the ‘Cell Theory’ was formally put forth by Matthias Jakob Schleiden (a German botanist who used to earlier earn his livelihood by practicing law) and Theodor Schwann (a German physiologist).

It was only during the proposition of the cell theory, the multiplication component of life/living organisms as preceded by the prior generation came out from oblivion. The cell theory states that:

1. A Cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all life.
2. Living organisms are composed of one or many cells.
3. All cells arise from pre-existing cells.

 There is a much complexity in the life that makes the exploration of cell biology all the more interesting! Although the inanimate objects such as planets and galaxies are also following a systematic pattern by maintaining their dynamics (rotation of the planets on their respective axes, the revolution of planets, etc.), along with, their energetics, the gross physical inanimate matter much more influences the life/living organisms.

Physical laws grossly govern the entire living systems. A simple example is the blood flow to the brain that has to take place against gravity and for that reason one pump is needed. The pump that facilitates the blood flow to the brain in the human body is the heart. It follows the same principle wherein the underground water has to be pumped against the gravity of the earth to the overhead tanks of the tall buildings. Also, to maintain a fluid blood supply in the human body; the heart pump is a critical component. Moreover, the major portion of a living organism is composed of water that is purely a physical entity.

Accordingly, the crux of the matter is the study of life/cell biology does not exist in isolation, but with the physical sciences or principles of the physical matter of this universe. A student of life sciences or cell biology can study the components of a cell, its interaction with the other cells, the role of organelles and various modern discoveries. However, the understanding of life sciences, cell biology is incomplete without understanding and integrating the principles of physical sciences into life sciences. Hence, the correct attitude to do life sciences and cell biology is to dissect the knowledge of cell biology into the smallest bit and then integrate it with the principles of physics.

Finally, when an organism dies, the body decays and is again lost to the environment in the form of gross physical components. Hence, in my opinion, inanimate physical elements come together in a systematic pattern to form a life/living organism, and the understanding of cell biology is incomplete without the knowledge of the basic principles of physics.

Teacher's day special-Difference between a teacher and a Guru

You are your own "Guru," or you are your "own teacher"!!!! Both the statements sound synonymous. However, in reality, are they interchangeable? If we see the dictionary meaning in English, the word ‘Guru’ means teacher, counselor, master, mentor, leader, and even, ‘Hindu spiritual leader.’ However, there is a lot more in a ‘Guru’ than just being a teacher. The word ‘Guru’ has its origin in the Sanskrit language that can be literally divided into two portions ‘Gu’-Darkness and Ru—Light. In other words, a Guru is a person who dispels darkness and knowledge is the tool that dispels darkness. So, ‘Guru’ is one who leads a person from darkness of ignorance to light of knowledge/wisdom.

In the current days of information overload, the conventional teachers try to fill the mind of the students with tons of information. That makes life complicated, isn’t it? Already, the life is so involved with data, information everywhere that we tend to miss out on the essential points. So, to get the gist of everything, we need to unlearn certain things. To make us understand the essence of everything is precisely what a ‘Guru’ tries to do. I love calling a ‘Guru’ as a mentor because it is a big responsibility to be a ‘Guru’ or a mentor. Accordingly, more information overload given by a teacher might lead to the darkness of ignorance. So, a ‘Guru’ will strip you of all your existing ego of being an information bank and guide you towards your inner core of light. This inner core is light/knowledge is vast and unfathomable. There is an answer to every possible question in this inner core of every human being towards which can only be guided by a true Guru.

When I say that ‘You are your own Guru,’ I mean that the pure, inner core present amongst all of us is the guiding ‘Guru’ present in all of us. So, on this teacher’s day, let’s pay our gratitude to all the teachers who have confused us with tons of information. Also, let’s extend our gratitude to the entire Gurus’ who have made us unlearn all the information overload thereby stripping us off our ego of being intellectuals. Finally, those who can identify the true Guru within you have been lucky of having being guided by a true Guru!

Here are some contrasting features of a teacher and a guru, in my opinion:

A teacher gives information; A Guru strips you of the information overload!

A teacher appreciates; A Guru challenges!

A teacher gets satisfied easily by your progress; A Guru makes you work till your fullest potential!

A teacher boosts your ego; A Guru strips you of your ego so that you can touch your most creative inner core!

In the short run: A teacher is loved and a Guru is hated!

In the long run: You may turn indifferent to your teacher but will develop reverence and gratefulness to your Guru.

In the long run: The teacher will forget you and will be indifferent to you, but a Guru will always be guiding and loving!

Hence, it is most important to connect to your inner Guru as guided by the external Guru.

Can a scientist be a teacher?

There is an ancient saying by Buddha, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” In the same way, when the young minds get ignited, the senior scientists appear before them as teachers. Well, many misconceptions are there regarding a scientist's ability to be a teacher or vice versa.  Anyone who can transfer the knowledge, mind ‘knowledge’ and not just ‘information’ to the seeker can be called as a teacher.

In the current times, there is an overload of information from everywhere, especially the internet. Accordingly, the internet should be eligible to be called a ‘teacher,’ but we cannot call the internet as a teacher. In India, the teachers were once respected for being so very selfless to impart the knowledge to the students. However, nowadays teaching has become a business, and anybody who use his words and presentation skills to throw out the information becomes a successful teacher is schools, colleges, and coaching classes. Also, students have turned from knowledge seekers to customers/clients who are looking for good grades and a job. So, it is an easy task to be a teacher in the present times. Teachers are not respected in these days in India because of the attrition of moral values in the current society. Moreover, teachers look out for making more and more money by giving lectures, presentation, and notes.

The discussion topic for the current blog is ‘Can scientists teach?”. The answer is, ‘Of course, Yes’ and also in a far better way, as compared to the regular so-called teachers. The reason for the scientists to be a potentially a better teacher, as compared to, the teacher in a college because the scientists are gifted with their scientific experience that is shared with the students in the form of real knowledge.

Finally, the endpoint is such teachers who are scientists, as well, do not hanker for getting more and more students for making a business. However, they look for initiated minds as students who are waiting to be ignited. Bright minds get attracted to bright masters/teachers/scientist-teachers.

Hepatocytes from Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells(MAPC)

Hepatocytes from MAPC have strong potential to provide transplantable source of hepatocytes for the end stage liver stage diseases without much expected problems of immune rejection.