34 CAREER ADVICE FOR LIFE SCIENTISTS
The Unicorn in the Garden or
Why Cell Biologists Should
Meet the Press
John Fleischman
The American Society
for Cell BiologyT
here is a famous medieval tapestry in New York’s
Metropolitan Museum of Art of a great lady in a
fantastical garden holding up a mirror to the uni-
corn reclining on her lap. Both are fascinated by what
they behold. The tapestry is a riot of living things;
flowers are intricately woven into her dress and all
around the green hummock where they sit are rabbits,
foxes, hounds and strange creatures in harmonious co-
existence. That garden came to mind with the 2001
publication in Natureand Scienceof the complete
human genome.
The revelation that an organism with only
30,000–40,000 genes could be as complex as a human
being stunned biologists. But scientists, by and large,
are delighted by unexpected discoveries: waking up
last month as a member of a 30,000–40,000-gene
species was for many of us like finding a unicorn in
the garden. The unexpected makes the cellular garden
that much more interesting to explore with new argu-
ments to wage, new reputations to be made, and new
fields to open.However, the public, by and large, is either confused
or annoyed. The confusion is understandable but the
annoyance is dangerous. It has its roots in a belief that
science doesn’t know what it’s talking about and that
means it’s out of control.
This dangerous annoyance is affecting cell biology. It
can be seen in “hot button” political positions that ren-
der complex subjects such as genetically modifiedThe public, by and large, is either
confused or annoyed. The confusion is
understandable but the annoyance is
dangerous.