In Praise of Science...and the Human Spirit

 by Marilyn Moore

Somewhere out there, 300 million miles from Earth, is the planet Mars.  On February 18, after a ten-month journey, the rover Perseverance landed, precisely as planned, in the middle of a crater.  Perseverance is the size of a car, and its descent through a thin atmosphere, decreasing from a speed of 12,000 mph to a gentle touchdown, was cause for celebration at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory headquarters.  Scientists and engineers and physicists and pilots and mathematicians waited through seven minutes of no communication….and erupted into cheers when the cameras activated, and the picture-perfect landing appeared on the big screen.  Hoorays and fist bumps all around!  

In the coming days, Perseverance will drive across the planet, sending photographs back to Earth and gathering rocks and dust samples for analysis at a later time, when they are returned to Earth in a future mission.  The rover will make its way to the delta of an ancient river, where scientists believe evidence of long-ago life on Mars may be found.  And the cute little helicopter, Ingenuity, will demonstrate its ability to take off, fly, and land in an atmosphere with very thin air.  

I am in awe of all of this.  The distance is greater than I can imagine.  The precision of planning and execution is beyond my understanding.  And what we may learn about the planet, the universe, the patterns of life and extinction of life across eons, is just staggering.  This is science on a beyond-the-universe scale…and it matters.

And at this very same time, millions of persons around the world are being vaccinated with drugs developed to protect against Covid-19, protection against the tiniest of viruses.  The first two drugs, developed by Pfizer and Moderna, implement the finding that it is possible to attach a messenger to ribonucleic acid.  That messenger teaches our bodies’ natural defense system to develop antibodies to the spike protein on the coronavirus looks like, and to destroy that spike if it appears.  

I am in awe of all of this, too.  The understanding of cell biology, of viruses, of RNA, of the body’s defense system, of sending a message to our bodies on how to react to a corona virus spike protein….imagine if this had been known a hundred years ago, when the influenza epidemic of 1917 was raging.  But it wasn’t, and now it is.  And the scientists, the biologists and the epidemiologists and the immunologists, are learning more every day.  This is science at the most basic cellular level…and it matters.

And what is most awesome to me is that all of this, from the basic cellular level to spaces beyond the universe, is studied and understood and acted upon by human beings.  This is not magic, this is not smoke and mirrors, this is not illusion, this is all real.  The human mind that can plot with pinpoint precision the landing of a rover on Mars and can plot with pinpoint precision the delivery of a message to our immune system…this is awesome.  And even more so….the human mind that can see what’s possible, and the human spirit that endeavors to make it so.  That’s truly awesome.

The names of the vehicles on Mars right now are so right for this time in human history.  Perseverance is the rover, and it’s perseverance of scientists over the millennia, building from theory to fact to next theory to next fact, trying and failing and learning from failure to try until successful, then trying again, each step and each year adding to what is known.  That’s what perseverance looks like.  Ingenuity is the helicopter, and it’s the spark, the “what if,” the “let’s try this and see if it works,” that brings about daring new attempts, leaps in understanding, and possibilities that become realities when most doubted it could ever happen.  

On a more personal scale, a “you and me and the neighborhood” scale, it is also the qualities of perseverance and ingenuity that have sustained us through this hard, hard year.  For every single person who persevered, who kept going even when, especially when, it was hard, thank you; for every single person who looked for a way to solve a never-happened-to-us before problem, thank you.  You have added to the collective human spirit, that celebrates both effort and the spark of a new idea.  And that is awesome beyond words. 

*** If you'd like to be notified by email when new articles are posted, please submit your email address in the "Follow by Email" field in the upper right section of the blog page. Thanks!