I am currently reading the rest of Jeremy Narbys “The Cosmic Serpent”, and today I read over the part where he talks about proteins and cells. It really is amazing how such miniature chemical factories and robot like entities are coded for in DNA, and then how these perform all the processes we need to keep our cells running. It is truly mind bending when you consider the complexity of this system, that the proteins are made up of sub units called amino acids, that more small factories inside our cells called ribosome’s then assemble into the proteins.
The only thing that separates one protein from another is the chain of amino acids, and the sequence of this chain then sets the shape that the protein will have. One sequence will cause the amino acid chain to bend one way, and another sequence causes a whole new shape to arise. The shape of the protein then determines where it can fit, activate, react with etc.
So from these very simple blocks, you get this complex, supposedly automated system that then goes even further to create a complex sentient organism like you and me. How such a system can evolve from scratch (DNA especially, which is really just about the most advanced technology you could conceive of when you really look at all the facts, and consider that it is in all life) is absolutely mind blowing.
What has caused me to write this article tonight is that I grabbed a random Wikipedia page today, and found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCN10A
SCN10A is protein that is encoded for with the SCN10A gene, and is a Sodium channel, voltage gated, type X, alpha subunit. Basically that means it is a complex piece of biological machinery that we have all through our body, that controls what is left inside our cells.
I don’t think that we are astounded enough at the complex ‘machinery’, (and I call it that because it although it is biological it really is a high piece of technology) that we have beneath our skin. And we don’t consider that all life around us is a high developed machine for its specific environment, and that plants and bacteria and everything alive has this amazing thing called DNA inside every cell. Reading Jeremy’s book has got me very interested at looking exploring this extra dimension to our ‘inner space’ and what it might contain. What message is inside DNA? What is the real purpose of DNA? From Richard Dawkins Selfish Gene theory to biophotons, there really is a wealth of things to study around this topic.