Illustration by Mary Kirkpatrick
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As a retirement project, I signed up for an online course offered by the University of Victoria Continuing Studies department. I hadn’t been in a biology class for 55 years but wanted to know more about the science of a worldwide pandemic. After finishing the entry-level course, I started to read popular science books noted on bestseller lists. A dozen young writers rocked my layperson’s world with the beauty of their scientific – and plain language – insights. My beguilement led me on an unexpected path.
In September, I registered for a microbiology course. UVic offers a great fee schedule for seniors wanting to audit classes. For less than $100, I attended fantastic lectures twice a week for a full term. Audit students do not write exams or get academic credit; I am there to listen and learn from the lectures. In other words: just for fun.
I arrive early in the morning when the university campus feels spectacularly fresh. With surrounding big old trees and native-plant gardens, the place sings. The campus is in the northeastern part of the city and includes a stunning Douglas fir-filled ravine, known as Mystic Vale. It must be one of the most beautiful in the world.
My class has roughly 200 students, and I feel like I am the quiet grandmother at a really fun party in a country with a completely different language. I struggle to use the vernacular, but I am happy to be there observing and learning new-to-me information and ideas. After four fantastic lectures, the word “peptidoglycan” finally rolled off my tongue – and I know what it means too!
Things were moving along nicely as I slowly read my fat text (no kidding, it’s a six-pound book). I listened to the lectures and was getting a good overall sense until a whole pile of chemistry abbreviations and diagrams started appearing. For all of my lifelong experiences with phonetics, I could not understand what I was reading. It was a discouraging moment.
However, I decided to keep listening. The kind prof reminded me to ask questions and hang in there. The strategy was a good one, as a few classes later I became more familiar with the beautifully precise language of the science.
I am often blown away with wonder at the centuries of work of scientists who figured out the inner workings of the tiniest microbes. The small world offers a microscopic panorama as breathtaking as a walk by a gigantic tree in an old-growth forest.
Just when I thought my class couldn’t get any better, I entered the microbiology lab. The instructor gave a fabulous lecture, followed by a demonstration of an inoculation procedure. I could understand every word she said, in that engaging, precise language of science.
Auditing the course has offered a good opportunity to access my aged inner scientist – I am now convinced we all have one. (Remember that two-year-old version of yourself who constantly asked questions?)
Excited after one class, I stopped at the bookstore to use the $67 gift certificate, my brother and his wife gave me for a birthday present. I decided to check out the latest science books for lay readers and came across a perfect find: The Good Virus: The Amazing Story and Forgotten Promise of the Phage by Tom Ireland. This plus one other science book came to $68. When I told my brother, he laughed and offered to give me the extra dollar – for good luck.
According to my microbiology prof, 16-million people die every year because of infectious diseases. This staggering number was the catalyst for learning more about “bacteriophage,” a virus that eats bacteria – and is truly charming. Phages (for short) have a century-long recorded history, a science-world tale that reads like a dystopian thriller – of the non-fiction variety!
Written off by the West as quackery, the bacteria-buster-virus (T4) is being reconsidered in the wake of drug-resistant antibiotics. When you Google “bacteriophage,” you will find it hard to believe the weird, fantastic and futuristic-looking image is an ancient product of nature and not a Hollywood construct.
One story I read about was about was how in 1892, Ernest Hankin, a British microbiologist, tested water from the Ganges in India and he discovered an antibiotic effect. He noted: “the unboiled water of the Ganges kills the cholera germ in less than three hours. The same water when boiled, does not have the same effect.”
I am telling you, this stuff is thrilling! If there was ever a symbol for the beauty in human nature, next to Terry Fox, I’d vote for the bacteriophage. It offers a hopeful, don’t-despair message in the form of nature bringing forth remedy.
Ireland and so many science writers offer evidence-based storytelling with an undercurrent reminder: opinions are not facts. Science does not offer simplistic answers, but this microbiology course does offer me new perspectives.
Thelma Fayle lives in Victoria.