Why Life Science? Why This Blog? Why Now?

As a child, Disney’s movie Fantasia captivated me, especially “The Rite of Spring.”* Igor Stravinsky, the composer, originally conceived this ballet as an expression of primitive life, celebrating the intricate beauty of ancient rituals. Disney, however, reinterpreted it more literally: a cosmic dance of Earth’s violent birth, the silent lightning strike of first life, and evolution’s slow crescendo into dinosaurs. That vision—life-blazing order out of chaos—never let go.

Today, with fear and hate spreading and unsettling sounds from the border kept as a constant reminder, I wrestle with doubt: Is studying biology a luxury while the world burns? Should I trade the microscope for the megaphone?

Yet in the turmoil, I return to Stravinsky’s truth: Life’s most breathtaking order doesn’t emerge from harmony—it claws its way through chaos. Here lies the power of life science: it doesn’t promise a kind universe. Instead, it reveals how beauty and resilience erupt within the storm. This perspective offers a vital opportunity to redirect our gaze, to look beyond our beliefs, pride, and fear, and into the wonders of life in all its forms.

The Shift We Need

Often, we cling to stories of a fundamentally orderly world that is full of love and harmony, and they give us the sense of security necessary to feel empathy — but then, when the world disappoints us, breaking our belief, can our empathy survive? Life science offers a sturdier lens: rather than assuming life is inherently harmonious, we observe it as it truly is—messy, complex, and unpredictable—and learn to appreciate and love it in its raw, authentic form.

Like Siddhartha stepping beyond his palace walls to face suffering and awaken and become Buddha, we, too, can trade comfortable myths for life’s raw, untamed truth and learn to find love in it.

But there’s a catch: Seeing life this way—through the prism of complex systems—often demands fluency in equations.

So, in this blog, I’ll do my best to reveal the wonder of the living patterns that emerge from chaos everywhere—from the microbes in your gut to the interplay of vegetation and climate across continents—without needing you to know any math.

Because once you begin to see the world not as a mechanical clock but as a living, adaptive, ever-evolving symphony, your appreciation for life in all its forms becomes truly unconditional.

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💡 Essays on life, chaos, and the quiet order beneath it all. Get them by email—about once a week