It’s fun to rib physicists by pointing out that while they’ve been hunting a Grand Theory of Everything for millennia, in biology, we did it three times, all in the space of a hundred years. Often overlooked, cell theory states that all life is made of cells, and they can only be born by the division of existing ones. Charles Darwin’s evolution by natural selection, and the universality of DNA and the genetic code are the other two unifying biological cornerstones, and when these three ideas are combined, we have a compelling overview: life, encapsulated within cells, changes from generation to generation via the selection of DNA best suited to the changing environment. Sorted, and we can all go home.
Dara O Briain noted that if science knew everything, then it would stop. You may have noticed that biology has not stopped. The majority of scientific research on this planet concerns the study of life, and those scientists who are trying to elucidate how cells work, how they harbour life and how they go wrong have plenty of work left. It’s not merely filling in the details that remains. Even with those towering pillars in place, there are colossal gaps, a “black hole at the centre of biology” as Nick Lane begins this terribly important book: we don’t understand why life is the way it is.
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