一点随想

以下是源于回答一个朋友COMMENTS时的一点随笔, 想记录下来,与大家分享.

中医是源于数千年来的祖国医学实践,有其存在的合理性. 我不想也不愿去否定她, 但是她有其自身的局限性,她自身有个继承及发展局限性的问题, 而数千年前的科学显然要落后于现代科学很多很多. 有个朋友打了一个形象的比喻,比如说有了电灯,我们不必使用蜡烛来照明,有了飞机汽车我们不必步行骑马旅行;但有人执意去用蜡烛或步行骑马,那就随他去吧;但是如果他强行要求别人这样做或执意向别人推销,那就不对了.

 There is an issue of "opportunity waste". As researchers, we all have limitations in term of time, energy, and expertise. If one focuses or spends time toward a wrong direction or subject, the success will be jeopardized. It is also true for patients when they seek for therapeutics, or for businessmen who seek for new opportunities.

 因为40亿年的进化,我们周围的自然及我们自身是非常复杂的.科学研究中有许许多多的死胡同. We are just not smart enough to know which one is deadend or how to explain a lot of things. That’s why we need to receive a good training (learn to swim) before we jump into the water. That’s why many many breakthroughs in science came from unexpected or accidental discovery (Serendipity). I, for a long time, have had an idea to compose a series of articles talking about serendipity (in my understanding and language) in biomedical research and drug discovery (hope I will be able to find some time to do so, it’s a big job). 2004年LASKER奖获得者RON EVANS (他及另外两位获奖者在Nuclear Receptor领域的贡献将是今后几年NOBEL奖的有力争夺者)的一句话道出了科学研究的真谛 - Science is about to ask right questions.

 So, a good scientist needs to know how to ask the right (and big) questions. Curiosity is the basis for science, but not all of that will yield fruitful results. But this should not daunt us away to think. The beauty about doing science comes from excitement during the discovery moments, which can not be exchanged by anything else. The glory feeling about being recognized by others is another layer of reward, which is less important.