In The Scientist’s April 2021 issue, scientist/author Paul Mischel of Stanford University posits an interesting parallel between scientific advancement in the field of astronomy and how biologists are exploring the living world. In his feature story, “Cancer’s Extra Genome,” beginning on page 32, Mischel explains how maps in both fields can drive and sometimes derail the discovery and characterization of scientific truths. In the case of astronomy, maps have included Ptolemy’s Earth-centric view of the universe and the corrected maps made 1,400 years later by astronomy’s patron saint, Renaissance-era thinker Nicolaus Copernicus. In the case of cancer, maps of the genome are missing a key element: extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA). Mischel likens the conceptual leap represented by the adoption of a sun-centered model of the solar system to what is now needed in science’s conception of cancer dynamics.
One amazing thing about the observations on which Copernicus based his model is ...
