Mysterious E Factor

In senior lab this semester, we tackle with the Modern Synthesis (Darwin and Mendel’s theories of biology). We have been splitting time between readings on evolution and cells and practica on breeding Drosophila melanogaster, or common fruit flies. They are particularly attractive for genetics work because they breed true traits very quickly and require little care. We have also been studying slides of cells of various organisms in many stages of development. I took A.P. Biology as a high school senior and have done most of these experiments before, but they never fail to take my breath away. Our latest conundrum is about the cell itself. If cells are analogous to atoms as the unit or building block of life, how are they different? Every example of cells’ capabilities that my lab class could supply was matched by a counter-example of the same process in non-living organisms. The most obvious (and most troubling) is the idea that cells reproduce copies of themselves in a ordered fashion. Crystals do exactly the same thing! Unfortunately, however much I wish it were so, snowflakes are not alive. We have circled back to the elusive “E factor” from freshman lab, the élan vital that supplies the spark of life. We have no idea what this is, and neither do the authors we are currently reading. I am confident that we will progress and develop a better understanding, but life itself is such an intrinsically mysterious thing. Someday a scientist will pin it down, but then we’ll all rush forward with questions about the soul, and everything will start from the beginning. Oh, discovery!

Elise Akie Kutsunai

Check It Out: 28 Days Later, Danny Boyle (movie)