Conclusion to "Clash: A Reflection on Science and Religion Courses at Loras College"

Medical Education and Research Facility at the Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, IA.  I will most likely be attending the University of Iowa next year for medical school.

             It is a bit surreal to think that I am nearing the end of my undergraduate education and will soon be pursuing a medical degree.  I owe a large portion of my success to my experiences at Loras College, and I believe my courses have prepared me to make a seamless transition into medical school.  For these things, I will forever be grateful of my time at Loras.

            However, what I will remember most about my undergraduate education is the personal transformations I underwent.  I am no longer driven by the thought of financial success, but rather, I see becoming a physician as an opportunity to give back to humanity.  Still, my greatest change has to be in my belief in a higher power.  Some critics of my beliefs have pointed out that I am merely going through an extended period of doubt.  While this is always a possibility, I find the chance of believing in God again highly unlikely.  This is because this decision did not come about lightly, and I believe I am currently the best version of myself.   

            The real question is “Where do I go from here?”  My answer is quite simple.  I foresee carrying out my beliefs much the same as I currently do.  This is a personal system that determines only how I carry out my life.  I am not at all interested in trying to turn others against God.  While I may not agree with them, they are exercising their right to freedom of religion by practicing whatever belief system they hold.  I also will strive to not allow differences in faith to interfere with how I practice medicine.  If a procedure goes against someone else’s belief system, then I must respect his or her wishes even if I believe them to be detrimental.  I can only hope that others will treat my well thought out decision similarly and realize that I am not defined solely by my atheism.

           

Example of Research

Basic outline of Ligation Independent Cloning.  Taken from Bitesize Bio article .

To study a specific gene in a host organism, it must first be inserted into a circular DNA molecule known as a plasmid vector which is compatible with the host’s molecular machinery.  This general process is known as cloning.  DNA cloning is traditionally accomplished through the use of DNA ligase, which is an enzyme that covalently combines the gene of interest with the plasmid molecule through the formation of phosphodiester bonds.  In principle, this biochemical technique is fairly straightforward and simple.  However, the combination of the gene with plasmid is typically a very inefficient procedure due to the in vitro (outside of the host cell) conditions under which the reaction occurs.  Cloning experiments conducted by students at Loras College have been particularly unsuccessful in the recent past.

There is an alternative method to traditional DNA cloning known as ligation-independent cloning (LIC).  This technique was first established in 1990 by Aslanidis and de Jong, and it utilizes multiple non-covalent interactions between complimentary strands of DNA (the gene and the plasmid vector) to circumvent the necessity of an in vitro ligation reaction.  This ligation step is unnecessary in ligation-independent cloning because the non-covalent interactions between the DNA strands are strong enough to allow the gene and plasmid to be successfully inserted into the host without dissociating from one another.  The host cell is then able to use its own DNA ligase to covalently combine the two pieces of DNA.  Once this is accomplished, the cell can begin to produce copies of the protein that gene codes for.

The original goal for my senior thesis project under the guidance of Dr. Kate Cooper was to create a ligation-independent cloning vector to be used for the study of the FCHO2 gene.  After more than a year of work, we were finally able to create this DNA molecule.  The next step of our project was to actually use the plasmid vector in ligation-independent cloning, but it proved difficult to find an established protocol.  The two protocols that I had access to gave contradictory advice, and neither of them gave positive results for the trials I conducted following their work.  Because of this, I was given the task of creating a protocol for the use of the LIC vector within Dr. Cooper’s research group.

I spent a large portion of my Intensive Research Experience J-term course trying to develop a reliable protocol for LIC.  This task was initially daunting because it was my first time performing research without any direct input from my research advisor.  I approached solving my problem by researching the ideal conditions to conduct the cloning reaction under.  However, this proved difficult because I was using an enzyme’s secondary function instead of the action it normally performs.  Therefore, I had to perform multiple trials trying to get my reactants in just the appropriate concentrations for LIC to be successful while trying to keep the protocol economical.  Also, alterations were made to make the protocol as time efficient as possible.  With a great deal of work and a little luck, I was able to produce an efficient and successful LIC protocol.

Since the creation of my LIC protocol, multiple other students, including myself, have used this procedure to successfully complete DNA cloning.  In fact, there has been more cloning accomplished at Loras College in the past month than in the previous five years combined.  It is rewarding to know that my work has directly assisted with the research of my peers and that it will continue to benefit students at Loras College for well into the future.

Reference:

         Aslanidis, C. and de Jong, P. J. (1990).  Ligation-independent cloning of PCR products (LIC-PCR). Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 6069 -6074.

From Questioning to Atheism

Personal photo of St. Peter's (Rome, Italy)

            My first real doubts about the existence of God came about through a Breitbach philosophy courses titled “Belief, Unbelief, and the Good Life.”  In this course, I was challenged to read and dissect the writings of historically significant atheists such as Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud.  This was the first time I had truly practiced the idea of reflective thinking in my undergraduate education.  The claims that these writers were making against Catholicism and religion constantly haunted me.  Ludwig Feuerbach’s The Essence of Christianity was the most thought provoking piece I encountered due to his belief that God is merely a human projection of the perfection of Man.  I simply did not have what I consider to be logical counterarguments against the claims these writers were making.  Still, I placed pressure on myself to write the assignments as if I remained firmly rooted in Catholic doctrinism over fear of consequences within the Breitbach program.  In retrospect, this was a childish fear because Fr. Wathier and my classmates have been extremely supportive of alternative viewpoints.  While this course was likely designed to strengthen our faith in God, it caused me to seriously question everything I had previously believed in.

            These feelings were not warmly welcomed by me at the beginning.  I imposed an incredible amount of pressure on myself to get rid of any thoughts of disbelief because I thought it would be socially unacceptable to be an atheist.  For this reason, I placed a great deal of importance on my J-term trip to Italy that dealt with studying the origins of the Catholic Church.  I viewed this trip as an opportunity to reignite my passion for religion.  What I really experienced was just the opposite.  In Rome, I was surrounded by what I believe to be the unnecessary extravagance of the Catholic Church and the secular nature of society in allegedly one of the holiest places in the world.  Surprisingly, the location that had the biggest impact on me was Assisi.  This is because of the simplicity that the town exuded and the surrounding beauty of the rolling hills.  It was here, with the help of meditation, that I began to realize that living without God would not be as negative as I had previously thought. My strict set or morals would not deteriorate just because I did not believe in God.  I will forever have a strong emotional attachment to the little town of Assisi due to the personal growth I experienced there.

View of countryside near Assisi, Italy.  This spot was allegedly a favorite location of St. Francis of Assisi.

            Around this same time period, I had begun performing research under the cell biologist Dr. Kate Cooper.  I initially viewed this experience as little more than a resume builder for medical school.  The first couple of months were incredibly difficult because I had to think critically about how to overcome obstacles I encountered instead of just relying on memorized facts to achieve success.  However, I started to gain a great deal of satisfaction from performing scientific research due to the difficulty of the work.  I began to seriously consider continuing conducting research during my career as a physician because of the joy it brought me.

            My research also caused me to think more about the contradictions between science and religion.  The miracles and exciting stories that many religions rely on completely fall apart when looked at from a scientific point of view.  These stories came about during a time when science was in a drastically primitive state compared to today, and people did not have the knowledge to logically explain why they happened.  An easy answer to any question was to place it squarely on the shoulders of God.  Also, the historical evidence behind many of these events is sorely lacking.  Choosing to assign the unknown to God is simply poor science.  I began to realize that there really is no middle ground.  One must choose to follow either the school of thought of religion or science, and the answer was clear for me.  Many people continually look to the complicated nature of life as supporting evidence for a higher being, but I believe everything could have, and likely did, come about through chance and evolution.

Early Science Courses: Get In and Get Out

            It is more than a little bizarre to think that I was actually more interested in my religion courses than my introductory science classes at the beginning of college.  The reason for these feelings is quite simple though.  At this time, I did not enjoy science.  However, I still always knew that I was going to major in one of the hard sciences.  This is because many influential members of my family had majored in the sciences, and this route provided them with financial security.  It is embarrassing to think that my primary motivation for choosing a major was potential earnings, but in many ways, I was just a stereotypical young kid.

            I approached these courses as merely obstacles that stood in the way of my payday.  As a result, I was content with my involvement in these classes as long as I received the grades required to make me a competitive applicant for graduate school.  To accomplish the goal, I relied heavily on my ability to quickly memorize material.  I could rattle off an impressive list of basic biological and chemical principles, but I would have been easily stumped if someone asked “Why do these things occur?”  It is upsetting to know that I obtained very little out of my introductory science courses.

          Interestingly, I did not find any conflict between what was taught in my religion courses and the basic scientific principles I had memorized.  Rather, I felt that God was rooted in every scientific finding and helped explain how the world worked.  Even though I realized that much of what the Catholic Church teaches cannot be supported through experimentation, I still found the existence of God to be an absolute truth.  These feelings started to waiver as I advanced further into the religion and science curriculum at Loras College.

Introductory Breitbach Courses

I entered my freshman year at likely the peak of my Catholicism.  My confirmation had just taken place the previous year, and I was still riding the emotional high of being accepted into a group with similar values.  Unlike most other students at Loras College, I was probably looking forward to my MOI course the most because it was the Breitbach Catholic Thinkers and Leaders course that dealt with important writers from throughout the history of the Catholic Church.  Each day in this class left me emotionally charged and excited for my future as a contributing Catholic in society.  Below is my unabridged response to a prompt from the final for this course.  We were asked to give our impression on a quote from St. Augustine's Confessions.  

What shocks me about revisiting this piece is just how convinced I was of God’s reality.  This may have been because I did not actually think there was any alternative belief system.  The term "atheist" most definitely had a derogatory meaning at this time for me.  While I believe this version of me was naïve and unrealistic, this was a time of great happiness in my life.

Introduction to "Clash: A Reflection on Science and Religion Courses at Loras College"

Below is the introduction to my Portfolio project.  As a preface to my reaction to Prompt 3, I need to admit that I was hesitant to write about my religious beliefs or lack thereof.  There are multiple influential people in my life who still believe I am a devote Catholic, and sadly, their opinion of me would likely somewhat diminish if they knew my actual position on the matter.  I am slowly becoming more comfortable with sharing my stance on the issue, but I do not think I will reach the point where I willingly proclaim my atheism.  This is partly because of my restrained nature when it comes to controversial issues.  Another reason is that I quickly become tired and peeved with people who try to delve into the reasons I am an atheist or convert me.  I honestly believe these instances will occur less and less as we proceed further into the 21st century.  While some may counter that religion has overcome periods of non-belief before, I believe religion is losing its significance and hold on my generation.

Resume for Senior Year

I've pasted in the resume that I wrote for Portfolio class.  Interestingly, this was my first experience writing a resume, and it may very well be my last because my field of interest does not typically use traditional resumes.

Cover Letter for Resume

Below is a copy letter of my cover letter for Portfolio.  I wrote it as if it was required for admittance into medical school.  However, in reality, U.S. allopathic medical schools have a centralized web-based application.  Then there are usually supplemental applications for each specific medical school that one applies to.  Still, this exercise was worthwhile because it introduced me to the "dreaded" cover letter that my friends often speak of.

Review on "Naturally Obsessed" from LabLit

I found this to be a great review on the documentary "Naturally Obsessed."  Let me know what you think of the author's opinions!

Link: Tell it true: Naturally Obsessed

Reflection on "Naturally Obsessed"

             I discovered the unique and sometimes altogether crazy band titled The Flaming Lips during my senior year of high school.  One particular thing that attracted me to this great band is that they caught their big break during an episode of Beavis and Butthead.  When Dr. Cooper told me that the documentary we were watching contained a song by them, I thought that at least the film had one positive going for it.  Surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed the flow of the "Naturally Obsessed:  The Making of a Scientist" and the honest message about graduate school that it portrayed.  While I find research to be interesting, I have some serious doubts about if I would be happy doing it for a career.

            One aspect that made this documentary personally enjoyable is that I am currently conducting biochemical.  Even though my research is more laid back and primitive than the work being performed by Dr. Shapiro’s team, I had a basic understanding of their goals and problems they were encountering along the way.  Also, my own personal failures in the lab made it easy to relate with the emotions that the characters encountered throughout the filming.  It would be interesting to hear what a person with no science background thought about the film.  While this may be a strong statement, I believe one must have spent time performing independent research that sought to answer something unknown to understand the characters on a deeper level.  For someone like Dr. Cooper who has performed biomedical research, this movie must have struck a major chord and brought back many memories about life in a lab.

            Even though Robert Townley was probably the most interesting graduate student to follow due to his quirky mannerisms, I felt a strong emotional attraction to the student named Kil.  The way he carried himself and invested a great deal of time and effort into his research reminded me of myself.  Also similar to me, the research failures appeared to stay with him for quite some time after they occurred.  One saying of his that I enjoyed was “We don’t learn anything from success.  Rather, we learn from failures.”  He did not say this statement as if to lecture others, but instead, it appeared he mentioned it to try and convince himself of its truth.  While I also hold this motto to be valid, it is difficult for me to come to terms with the reality of the statement.  Watching Kil struggle throughout the filming of the documentary caused me to have second thoughts about being able to succeed in an M.D./Ph.D. program.

            These concerns about my happiness in an M.D./Ph.D. program are not related to being bored with the research.  This is because I find the premise of delving into the unknown to be fascinating.  My downfall in research would likely be caused by investing too much time into my work and making my failures personal. It has always been my intention to start a family and raise my children to the best of my abilities at a relatively young age.  While others may be able to balance a family and graduate school remarkably well, I do not have the skill set to accomplish both tasks at once.  This is the most prevalent reason for having doubts about entering a dual degree program.  I also seriously wonder if my psyche could withstand the constant failures that are inevitable in research.  To circumvent this problem, I would need the proper advisor to encourage me along the way.  Still, something is leading me to toss around the possibility of pursuing both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees.

            Overall, I would strongly recommend this movie to anyone who has even a basic background in the sciences.  It gives a detailed look into the lives of the people who make the discoveries that we read about in the popular media daily.  As far as people considering entering graduate school, it is essential to be exposed to this film.  This is because it gives a look into some of the trying times that will be ahead.  Personally, it caused me to seriously wonder if I possess the skills required to succeed in research.

Documentary watched:
Rifkind, R. & Rifkind, C. (Directors).  (2009).  Naturally Obsessed:  The Making of a Scientist.  Public Broadcasting Service.

Reaction to Opinion Articles

            Memories of my first afternoon in Dr. Cooper’s lab are imprinted firmly in my mind.  We had just finished discussing some of the details in my project, and she asked me if I would like to get started. I hesitantly responded “yes” even though I was already overwhelmed with trying to digest the basic concept behind my project.  With Dr. Cooper by my side, we proceeded to set up digests using restriction endonucleases on a plasmid vector.  However, at the time, I was basically just putting small amounts of liquid into tubes without any idea of what was going on.  I left the lab that afternoon with a sick feeling in my stomach because of how little I understood.  I kept thinking about how painful my research experience was going to be if I remained in this state of ignorance.  Martin Schwartz admits in his article “The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research” that “feeling stupid” in the lab is not for everyone, but for those who can cope with it, it is a driving source towards making scientific discoveries.  After some humbling experiences, I have become more comfortable with continually saying “I don’t know” in the lab, and I would like to continue conducting scientific research in the future.

            As Schwartz mentions in his article about many young students, I too was attracted to science because of the ease with which it came to me.  Up until my junior year, I thought I had they key to being successful in the sciences because I could memorize a great deal of information.  This approach may be fine in the classroom, but it quickly fails a person in the lab.  One must use critical thinking skills against obstacles that seem insurmountable at times.  The humbling moments far outweigh the times when everything seems to come together.

            This state of ignorance is inevitable when conducting worthwhile scientific research.  Gone are the days of following “cookbook” lab protocols in class to find an expected outcome.  One spends time performing research to answer the unknown questions in life.   For a long period of time, I did not believe I could handle the feeling of continually being in the dark with my own research project.  However, even managing small breakthroughs provided me with a euphoric feeling and ignited a desire to proceed further into the unknown.

            Conducting research at whatever medical school I attend will be vastly different than my experiences at a small institution like Loras College.  Loras is a sort of comfort zone for me where I know every face that I encounter and do not hesitate to ask questions.  Just the thought of working in a new lab with intense students is enough to make me perspire.  For this reason, I am thankful for encountering Jonathan W. Yewdell’s two-part article titled “How to Succeed in Science.”  I found the first portion of the article to relate most to my current situation because it discusses what to expect when first beginning research at a new institution.  His helpful hints have given me an idea of what type of research experience will be most compatible with my personality and goals.

            The most helpful section dealt with how to choose a mentor.  This is because not every mentor will be as nurturing and understanding as Dr. Cooper.  I am not concerned about an advisor who expects a great amount of time commitment on my part because I will give my best effort.  Most importantly, I desire someone whose research goals match mine and is approachable.  My ultimate goal is to be a better practicing physician as a result of my lab work, and I will be looking for someone who is supportive of this objective.

            My critical thinking skills have grown exponentially since I began working in Dr. Cooper’s lab.  This safe environment has given me a taste of what research in graduate school will entail.  While I know there will be many difficult times where I feel absolutely lost, I look forward to trying to answer some of the unknown questions in the health sciences.

Literature Cited:

Schwartz, M. A.  (2008).  The importance of stupidity in scientific research.  Journal of Cell Science.  121. 1771.

Yewdell, J. W.  (2008).  How to succeed in science:  a concise guide for young biomedical scientists.  Part I:  taking the plunge.  Molecular Cell Biology.  9.  413-416.

This Week's Music

I've decided to share some songs/artists that I'm really into this week in lab.  If only Pandora didn't have a forty hour limit per month...

Smashing Pumpkins- Cherub Rock, Today, and Tonight, Tonight
The Band (This one's for you, Casey and Brennan)
The Format (So unknown, so great)
Death Cab for Cutie  (Except for that crappy song from the Twilight movie.  Boo to selling out!)
Marshall Tucker Band
Radiohead (First time I've actually listened to The Bends and Ok Computer completely through, and it was amazing)
Bon Iver (Anyone who produces an album in a cabin in Wisconsin is cool with me)

Shadowing Opportunity

For a small school, I believe Loras College offers many unique research opportunities for undergrad students.  However, rarely does one get the opportunity to witness these projects on personal basis.  This afternoon I had the privilege of shadowing Cara Marie while she was working in Dr. Schnee’s lab.  The primary goal of Cara Marie’s research is to determine the effect of cadmium exposure on the mating patterns of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster).  I now have a profound level of respect for the research the students in Dr. Schnee’s lab are performing.  Still, I am thankful for the research I am conducting.

By the time I shadowed Cara Marie, I had already witnessed two of her presentations on her work, so I had a basic idea of how she was spending the J-term.  However, following her around really helped to answer some of my lingering questions about the project.  Cara Marie was already working diligently by the time I joined her during the afternoon, so I was thrown right into the mix. 

The most interesting part of the afternoon was observing the behavior of a male fly that was exposed to a .75 M concentration of cadmium when it was mixed with a female fly that did not have any cadmium exposure.  These flies were combined in a vile that contained neither food nor water.  Cara Marie said one can tell the identity of each fly apart from the other because male flies have a dark spot on the abdomen, but I was not easily able to perform this task.  We began timing the courting pattern as soon as the flies were together at the top of the vile.  The female fruit fly seemed uninterested and continually left the male’s company.  After around fifteen minutes of watching the flies they had been courting each other for nearly ten minutes.  At one point during the courtship, the male fly began to undertake an activity known as preening.  This is a cleaning procedure that the fly performs to prepare itself for mating.  Interestingly, Cara Marie commented that the male fly appeared to be noticing that the female was uninterested in him, and the male fly may have been trying to clean off any residual cadmium.  The observation was concluded after the thirty minute mark, and at this point the flies still had yet to mate.  Dr. Schnee commented that around twenty-five similar watches are required to make any type of conclusion about the mating behavior of the flies.

While we were observing the courtship between the two flies, Cara Marie broke down a typical day for her and some of the necessary preparations for her work.  I could not believe the amount of time she spends just making sure she had enough flies to work with.  Observing the flies was very tedious and not extremely exciting to me, but Cara Marie was completely engrossed in what was occurring before us.  Also, because she is working with a higher level of organism than the bacteria that I am used to, she is on the flies’ time to a certain extent.  It definitely requires a patient personality to perform animal observations, and Cara Marie fits this mold well.  One could sense the level of excitement she had once the flies began to display any type of ritual courtship mannerisms. Her enthusiasm was enjoyable to witness.

Even though I greatly enjoyed my shadowing opportunity, I am glad to be working in a cell biology lab.  I do not believe I have the required patience to observe the behavior of fruit flies for an entire day.  Still, I find the overall premise of the research to be interesting, and I look forward to viewing Cara Marie’s results at the end of J-term.

Reaction to the First Week of Research

            It is somewhat difficult to believe that I have been doing research for over a year now.  I can still remember the first conversation with my research advisor, Dr. Cooper, vividly.  She asked me if I had ever thought about a career in research.  I quite coldly proclaimed that under no circumstances would I want to conduct research for a living.  Working in a lab was viewed by me at this time as little more than a requirement to graduate and something to put on my resume for medical school.  However, this opinion began to slowly change as I invested more time and effort into my project.  I became so passionate about conducting research that I even applied for an MD/PhD position at one of the medical schools I was accepted into.  Being enrolled in this course has only reinforced my desire to continue to conduct scientific research in the future.  Still, I cannot neglect my passion for working with patients in a clinical setting.

            The change in my feelings about working in a lab was not just the result of a revelation one day.  Rather, it came about after spending an increasing amount of time in the lab and conducting research in conjunction with taking an introductory biochemistry course.  Part of the reason I was frustrated with my first couple of months in the lab was because I did not really understand the theories behind the procedures.  As I took cell biology and biochemistry, things started to click, and I became able to anticipate future challenges and think critically about necessary changes in my work.  I would strongly encourage students who are just starting to perform research to stay positive even when things appear bleak.  The outlook will become progressively rosier as you begin to master specific protocols and procedures related to your field.  Even if you do not particularly enjoy research, at least you can say you gave it a valiant attempt.

            I can honestly say that this course has only increased my appreciation for a career in research.  One of the most pleasant parts is working in close proximity with other students who have similar projects.  Brainstorming and helping one another makes the day go very quickly and provides a sense of support.  Another thing I enjoy is that this is the only course we are currently taking.  In the past, I often ran into difficulties when trying to schedule research around my class schedule.  Now, I am capable of working at a pace that allows for accomplishing a great deal in one day.  An aspect that is somewhat of a pain is waiting to receive results and orders that have been sent off to outside companies/labs.  Trying to find projects to remain busy with that only take a short amount of time can be quite challenging.

            It has become rather clear through this research experience that I would like to perform clinical studies in the future.  I still find my work to be exciting, but this enthusiasm would likely start to wane after a while due to a lack of interaction with patients on a regular basis.  I remain convinced that I can be of the most benefit to society by working in a clinical setting as a physician.  Luckily, there are many great teaching hospitals that will enable me to combine my liking for research and clinical medicine. 

            I still find it amazing how far my appreciation for research has come.  This course has been a great introduction for the next step in a career in research.  I look forward to continuing research in the future because it will make me a better physician and allow me stay up-to-date in the advances in science.

Reaction to "A Brief History of the Hypothesis"

            One of my earliest recollections of science courses from elementary school is of being introduced to the term “hypothesis.”  At this age, it was simply defined as an educated guess, and we were told a hypothesis is imperative to conduct scientific studies.  My classmates and I then proceeded to carry out a rudimentary experiment observing a caterpillar undergo a metamorphosis to a butterfly.  It is still a commonly held belief amongst most of society that, for an experiment to be of any merit, it must contain a hypothesis. However, as Glass and Hall (2008) explain in their article about the history of the term hypothesis, a significant amount of research today takes place without a well-defined hypothesis.  Rather, the studies are primarily driven by inductive reasoning that aims to answer questions that the researchers have.  While this method has its shortcomings, I find it to be the most practical way to practice in the future as a physician.

            A central argument that some philosophers put forth against inductive reasoning is the idea that we cannot predict future events (Glass & Hall, 2008).  It is true that humans cannot be absolutely sure that something will occur in the future.  However, it would be foolish to view happenings as stand-alone events that have no connection to the past or future.  We are handcuffed by the unknown, but we must act as though events will occur in a similar manner in the future.  A practical application of this belief is a physician treating a patient with a disease in the same way as he or she treated a patient with the same disease in the past.  One should stay open to the idea that the future may stray from the past, and make the appropriate adaptations if this occurs.

            As was mentioned by Glass and Hall (2008) and discussed in depth in class, probability helps defend inductive reasoning.  Still, there exists the chance of any event occurring in the future.  A statistical principle known as the Law of Large Numbers states that, as the number of experiments held increases, we become closer to obtaining the true probability of that event occurring.  Therefore, the probability of an event can essentially be taken as zero if it has not happened after countless tests.

            Other fields of study may be different, but formulating a concrete hypothesis often does not apply to biology.  As one of the students mentioned during discussion, there are usually a tremendous amount of variables present to account for in biological research.  One must resort to observing a system repeatedly and try to make general conclusions that try to explain the results.  This is a great example of inductive reasoning in action.

            An interesting claim that the article makes is that hypotheses are not relevant today due partially to the abundance of information we have accumulated.  Instead of formulating hypotheses to try to falsify, the authors suggest that researchers search for solid answers to questions.  My brief research experience has been based around the latter of these two options.  In fact, it would be foreign for me to try and function under the premise of the first option.  Trying to answers may not be the absolute method to conduct scientific research, but it will likely remain as the primary school of thought in the foreseeable future.

Literature Cited:

Glass, D. J. & Hall, N.  (2008).  A Brief History of the Hypothesis.  Cell, 134, 378-381.