Overview
Overview
Description
It's pretty easy to think of living creatures as giant sacks filled with meat. After all, that's where delicious meat comes from. Mmm...meat…but there's really more to it than food. Meatbags like ourselves are downright full of chemical reactions.
Without chemical processes, the human body (to take an example at least 75% of you Shmoopers should be familiar with) couldn't function. We couldn't digest food, remember where we left our glasses, put on muscle tissue, or even record silly videos of our cats...mostly because we wouldn't even be alive.
Personally, we like living. It's pretty much all we do every single day. Biochemistry helps us along in all facets of life, from engineering headache pills to coming up with the latest reptilian-themed sports drink.
Electrolyte replenishment aside, the flashiest discovery in biochemistry has to do with the basic building blocks of life itself. See, knowledge of DNA used to be pretty amazing. Not only can it settle baby daddy drama on Maury, but it can also be used as a plot tool on CSI: NCIS BBQ.
Okay to be fair, DNA is pretty remarkable on its own, as well. Biochemistry has revealed how it replicates and tells the body what cells to grow, all through chemical interactions. Chemistry is literally the language of life.
Possibly of love, too...considering all of the romantic songs involving it.
With a biochemistry degree, you're going to be learning about the essential building blocks of life. Tough not to let that kind of power go to your head. So why stop it? Go nuts. After all, you're going to be working in a tough science and probably earn a graduate degree. A little mad science is expected.
Famous People who majored in Biochemistry
- Isaac Asimov
- Francis Crick
- Rosalind Franklin
- Louis Pasteur
- John Craig Venter
Percentage of US students who major in Biochemistry:
0.123%
Stats obtained from this source.