Nasser Tejaratchi, M.D.
In spite of tremendous progress made in Biochemistry, the entity of life remains as elusive as the universe. It has been said that life is a universe. It is known that the unit of life is DNA; a complex molecule composed of various organic substances and mineral elements. All living creatures, viruses, bacteria, protozoans, yeasts fungi, plants and animals (including human beings) are made of a complex DNA. Strands of attached DNA make the genes; specific bundles of genes make the chromosomes…
A DNA strand is made up of double strands of RNA. A few known viruses, like Coronavirus, are made up of RNA only, which we can call a form of “sub-life”. Yet this form of “sub-Life” RNA shows all functions of life: they have a specific form, they are surrounded by a membrane, they absorb nutrients from heir medium, they divide… Viruses are extremely small. To be visualized, they have to be magnified up to 300 to 400 times by using an ultramicroscopic. Yet this extremely small creature has caused havoc to well-developed creatures like humans. Some scientists consider life as a peculiar crystallization of matter of unknown origin. A simple crystallization of lifeless matter can be exemplified in the formation of a snowflake, which is made of large numbers of small crystals from pure water in a subfreezing temperature. How the original units of live RNA and DNA are formed, no one knows. In recent decades, know and then, some researchers have reported that they have produced living organisms. However, they have usually reattached DNA molecules which they have obtained from other viruses. These artificial genes have shown a limited function and soon die out. None have survived.
While in the infinite universe there must be innumerable living creatures, they are all out of contact with each other. Life on earth must have been developed here starting billions of years ago. The soul and intelligence are the outcome of the nervous system which have developed for protection and guidance of living organisms. Once a living creature dies, so do the soul and intelligence.
As the great Omar Khayyam has said “Beware! Don’t tell anyone this horrible secret, the tulip that withered will not bloom again!”