Simpler perspectives

As I am a biologist, I have taken up to reading more on the areas I have never been able to work on much. One such is the elusive Protein modeling area. In the book that I am reading currently (Introduction to Bioinformatics) by Arthur Lesk, the author has given a wonderful introduction to proteins. The following is an extract from that book where he talks about the most complicated process in nature, that of protein folding:

How does the amino acid sequence encode the three-dimensional structure? Any possible folding of the mainchain places different residues into contact. The interactions of the sidechains and mainchain, with one another and with the solvent, and the restrictions placed on sidechain mobility, determine the relative stabilities of different conformations. This is a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics, which states that systems at constant temperature and pressure find an equilibrium state that is a compromise between comfort (low enthalpy, H) and freedom (high entropy, S), to give a minimum Gibbs free energy G = H - TS, in which T is the absolute temperature. (In human relationships, marriage is just such a compromise.)

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Though the passage will sound like a whole load of jargon to many, I found it very simple and lucid. Comparison of a very difficult problem in nature to a thermodynamical system and finally drawing an analogy to marriage is the best part. Shows how complex things can be made to look simple by comparing them with day to day problems. I will always remember protein folding by associating it with the compromises one makes in a marriage than by recollecting biological facts . Simpler perspectives bring in a breath of fresh air.