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Salon 1 |
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Kenichi Matsubara
Professor, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Molecular Biology |
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Voyaging to Galapagos. Penetrating jungles. Diving to the bottom of the sea. Probing into a drop of water or clod of earth through a magnifying glass...These reports are always full of wonders. We find myriad forms of life everywhere. Even in the most unlikely environments, we find well-adapted inhabitants. They are very diverse, proudly displaying all the possible variations of life.
We also encounter other forms of wonders in these non-daily experiences, such as the astonishingly complex relationships between many creatures. What wonderful mechanisms for living! When we probe further, from cells to genes, we can see yet other great marvels in their structures. The fine workings and regulations. What amazes me is that all living forms strictly obey the basic forms and common functions of life, with no exception. Like siblings from common ancestors, albeit their current widely diversified natures obtained during the course of evolution. I visualize a great stream of life, continuing without a break for 3.5 billion years since the birth of life, which has repeatedly experienced drastic changes in the global environment, successive mass extinctions, and great evolution.
Research on the genome is now in progress. Much effort is being made to clarify how many genes are present in the human being, what they are, and how they give instructions to regulate the body. This is a quite formidable task because of the huge amount of DNA involved. The genome contains both the written instructions controlling the life of each individual, and the record of its evolutionary process to the present. We can find dead genes, traces of ad-hoc additions and modifications. We see also evidence of various viral infections that must have tormented our ancestors. Wonders related to time are now emerging with reality. ÅgBiohistoryÅhis indeed fascinating and enjoyable. |
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Salon 2 |
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Katsuhiko Sato
Professor, University of Tokyo, Cosmology |
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My field is cosmology, the study of how the universe was born and how it has evolved to attain its present profound configuration. The tools of our research are the physical laws that have been established by experiments here on the earth. The motion of all matter is governed by physical laws whose parameters were initially set at the birth of the universe. What we wish to understand is the actual scenario through which the universe has evolved under these physical laws.
I have a strong interest in life, because life cannot be explained in terms of “simple” laws such as those applied to the universe. We are machines working according to physical laws, but at the same time we decide our actions by our own will. This apparent contradiction, which has been in contention since the early days of natural philosophy, has no easy answer. Our free will was attained over a long evolutionary process beginning 3.5 billion years ago with the birth of the first unicellular organisms. Now nearly one hundred million different types of organisms exist on the earth. Using basic elements from the universe such as H, C, N and O, such a diverse world of life has been created through natural selection. When we examine an individual life, we can see in its history, nature's trials and errors. As “biohistory” signifies, life cannot be understood without diversity and history.
I firmly believe that the 21st century will be the age of life sciences. The 20th century has been an age of science and technology based upon physics. Into the next century, great progress in life sciences will result in significant reforms in human society. The BRH has a very important mission; to read the stories of life, and to create a new civilization. |
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Salon 3 |
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Toru Nishigaki
Professor, University of Tokyo,
Information Theory |
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I am a being, though I rarely consider this condition. I am not deploring the fact that I live like a robot being constantly urged to do trivial matters. It is not because biology was the subject I hated most in my junior high school and high school days (the pain of memorizing those strange names on the anatomical charts and taxonomic tables still lingers in my memory) and that I have been trying my best, unconsciously, to have nothing to do with any forms of life.
I think “I am living” when I put myself in the position of an outside observer to look back at myself. Can a computer do this kind of thing? When I ponder over issues such as a “machine with a mind” and “what is information,” I must also by all means face the issue of creatures. Is it true that only creatures are capable of processing information and computers technically can only manipulate symbols?
The result of this pondering is that biology is now one of the most interesting fields of learning to me, I, who study information. At BRH, we can learn about the latest topics from outstanding biologists. In the midst of these present delights, my memory of the dark and boring lessons of biology in my youth is gradually fading away.
“Biology is absolutely fascinating.” To my surprise, I sometimes find myself preaching to may son. Such a haphazard and flexible creature am “I.” |
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