The incredible diversity oflife on this planet, most of which is microbial, can only beunderstood in an evolutionary framework
Interpretation
Life's diversity is rooted in evolution, particularly at the microbial level.
This quote by Carl Woese emphasizes the importance of understanding the vast diversity of life on Earth through the lens of evolution. Specifically, it highlights the prevalence of microorganisms, which are essential to the ecosystem yet often overlooked, underscoring that a comprehensive understanding of biology must include the evolutionary processes that shape life forms.
In practice
In a lecture about ecology, you might use this quote to illustrate the significance of microorganisms.
Our task now is to resynthesize biology; put the organism back into its environment; connect it again to its evolutionary past; and let us feel that complex flow that is organism, evolution, and environment united. The time has come for biology to enter the nonlinear world.
All mathematics is is a language that is well tuned, finely honed, to describe patterns; be it patterns in a star, which has five points that are regularly arranged, be it patterns in numbers like 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 that follow very regular progression.
Chemistry is necessarily an experimental science: its conclusions are drawn from data, and its principles supported by evidence from facts.
It is hard to overstate how valuable it is to have all the incredible tools that are used for human disease to study plants.
We are survival machines β robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. This is a truth which still fills me with astonishment.
I am on the edge of mysteries and the veil is getting thinner and thinner.
Humans are natural-born scientists. When we're born, we want to know why the stars shine. We want to know why the sun rises.
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