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Much of what we write about in The Scientist—immune cells, RNAs, transmembrane ion transporters, etc.—is invisible to the naked eye. Only relatively recently has humanity developed technology that offers glimpses into this hidden landscape and its importance to our own lives. It’s all too easy to forget that it was only a little more than 100 years ago that science really gave us a firm grasp on the connection between microorganisms and disease, for example. Viruses were not discovered until the 1890s.
In the intervening century, technological development has marched double-time to stuff the quivers of biologists with tools such as electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, and fluorescent labeling of biomolecules, to name but a few. These methodological marvels have taken our understanding of life and matter from the macro, past the cellular, and into the realm of molecules and even single atoms.
Despite the ...
