It's a Matter of Perspective

Science is all about seeing relationships between things or patterns of behavior. Sometimes living systems that are vastly different can have great similarities if you look at them in the right way. And really, that is all that is needed to see the similarities—a change of perspective.

For example, what are the similarities between a human and a mouse? Well, on the surface, you may say not a whole lot, but let’s look deeper.

1. They’re both mammals who give birth to live young (meaning they don’t lay eggs).
2. They’re both vertebrates.
3. They both contain about 30,000 genes in their DNA.
4. On a precise basis, their DNA sequences (the letter sequences ACGT of DNA) are 85% identical.

So, all that’s needed to see the similarity is perspective.

The genetic and biochemical similarity between humans and mice is one reason that physiological studies done on mice hold some relevance for humans. It’s not a perfect fit, but if something works or holds true in mice, then there is precedent for thinking it might work in humans as well. Hence all the studies done in mice (well, there are other reasons too).

Sometimes I look at a set of data in several different ways to see if there is a pattern. It’s helpful just to look at the SHAPES of curves or trend lines. They can tell you a lot. And seeing numbers in a visual fashion, such as plotting them on a graph, is a great way to discern trends and differences. Therefore, I look at data in many different ways—visually, as numbers in a table, in graph form (bar graphs, line graphs, pie charts)—all to look for the trend that may not be obvious.

Of course, sometimes there is no trend or similarities and you’re actually comparing apples and oranges. Or rodents and hominids.