We can look back and glow in our achievements. Everything we have, can be directly attributed to science, logic, perseverance, and hard work.

The logical left brain dominates the human landscape. The credit is well deserved.

This is about acknowledging what we do not know, even in areas where we excel, and having the humility to accept that we continue to progress, sometimes without having the foggiest idea, as to what really is going on. Sometimes the cause and effect do not lie on the same straight line.

Here is an example.

An interesting result of the Human Genome Project, a 13 year long international study, was that:

• About 2% of DNA is protein coding genes

• Another 10-20% is regulatory elements

• Remaining 80-90% of DNA is, what scientists call, junk DNA or dark matter

On a side note, the 2% coding DNA in humans and bananas, have 50% similarity and in case of humans and chimpanzee, 99 % similarity.

While there is incredible advancement in field of Genetics and its application, we are still trying to make sense of the 80% junk DNA – how it influences our biology and for that matter what makes a human, human and a banana, banana.

In the field of Physics, scientists are grappling with the fact that all the matter and energy that we observe, study, and apply is less than 5%. Rest 95%, labelled Dark Matter and Dark Energy, is a complete mystery.

Similarly, while we cannot imagine a life without electric current, what really is an electron, the carrier of charge, is debatable and a mathematical construct.

All that we have achieved cannot only be attributed to logic, hard work and firm grip on controllables… like a well calibrated machine. Acknowledging that X factor, allows it to weave magic. Makes life an interesting tale to tell.

Leave some space for the unknown.