Scientific pursuits should not be feared

When I was little, I dribbled a fistful of soil into my mouth out of curiosity about its flavor.

The yearning to learn the characteristics of our world is widespread. To some, the compulsion manifests itself in odd ways, but seekers of truth are a common species, curious always about everything: the origins of the universe and the purpose of life on Earth.

It is often the feverish inquirers who grudgingly sign up for the required science general education courses, not realizing what USC has to offer in terms of the sciences. Although the questions of life fascinate students, many think science sucks the magic out of everything. Some thrive on that sense of awe that fills them when they contemplate what they don’t understand — the poetry inherent within the mysterious. To them, science is the enemy of this feeling.

But students should think twice before registering for the easiest-looking science class for next fall with the intention of sleeping through it

I used to hate science. When my grade-school physics teacher explained that apples fall from trees because of this inevitable force called gravity, I thought with horror that he had killed my ability to be amazed by the experience of being rooted to the planet. “It may seem like this beautiful miracle to be alive, but it’s actually very explainable mathematically and scientifically and logically and you must memorize and embrace the dreariness of it all,” my science teachers seemed to say.

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But soon, the hypocrisy of my perspective was elucidated: I claimed to be in love with something that I was too afraid to look at in the face for fear that it might not actually be beautiful. I was seeking “the secret of life” without taking the time to get to know what life was.

The enthusiasm and expertise of USC professors like neuroscientist William McClure and science journalist K.C. Cole revealed that the heart of each scientific discipline throbs with an immortal magic. Sure, we can explain that a sperm meets an egg and triggers a cascade of cell growth and division that eventually becomes a human baby; how an enormous explosion at the beginning of time caused the universe to come into existence; how the stimulation of brain cells gives rise to behaviors and perceptions.

But the fact is that biology, physics and neuroscience are actually revealing the ultimate unknowability of the world in a way that lends even those outside of religious circles to believe there is some force behind all the inner workings in the natural world.

USC has many science professors who aren’t afraid to admit what they don’t know — what science can’t seem to figure out.

Scientists still have no idea why life or the universe or thoughts occur. We can explain how these phenomena happen and what they look like but not what is behind them.

For example, we can explain that thoughts occur because neurons in my brain fire in a very precise way. But though the material covered in a General Education such as Brain, Mind and Machines: Topics in Neuroscience (BISC 230) could help us understand the process, even its professor would be hard pressed to find an answer as to why they fired. What is the initial push that caused this squiggle in my brain? It is inexplicable, just as the initial “push” behind the Big Bang is inexplicable.

Science cannot strangle “the secret of life” because it is by nature inscrutable. It cannot be gotten hold of. The ultimate question — why are we here? — seems outside of our capacity to answer. It is like trying to see the eye with the eye. You can only know, intuitively, that you are a part of it, that the answer is somehow you.

We are the universe looking at itself. Life is the only thing in the world capable of perceiving the world, of giving it meaning and trying to discover its nature. We can study and characterize the limbs, the body, of that from which we sprouted, but its ultimate secret is unknowable. It seems to be locked within what we are looking at it with — consciousness itself.

The resultant elusiveness doesn’t mean the pursuit of science is pointless. Rather this is the realization that, unlike anything else, science education can make the spirits soar.

Jean Guerrero is a senior majoring in print journalism. Her column “Scientastical” runs Mondays.