Biological Engineering in a Nutshell

So...how to describe Biological engineering in a nutshell? Well actually, I think it would be easier to create an artificial nutshell using biological engineering than describing biological engineering in a nutshell. I remember when I was a freshman, explaining biological engineering to my friends from other majors was one of the most difficult things to do. In fact, it still is very difficult to describe exactly what biological engineering is. If someone were to ask me today what biological engineering is, I would probably describe it as a movie, with Christopher Nolan being the director.

Like a Christopher Nolan movie, anything can happen in biological engineering. From protein engineering to developing the newest form of renewable energy, biological engineering can spur interest in any audience. When you think that you have reached the end of something, there will always be something new you could explore with biological engineering. This reminds me of how Nolan's movies explore many different dimensions, such as our dreams and black holes in the 5th dimension. As our society advances, biological engineering will be able to explore some of the craziest things that we could even imagine. We have the world as our playground, and even with all of the amazing discoveries we have already made, we still haven't even gotten out of the kiddie swings yet.

Yes, I realize that I haven't really answered the question: "What is biological engineering?". However there really isn't one definition that could cover all of the aspects of it. Instead, I have come up with a few examples of what each module has meant to me.

Module 1: DNA Engineering

The Dark Knight: "You wanna know how I got these scars?"

20.109: "Hmm...by getting cut and having to get stitches? Well, did you know that we have ways to "stitch" together DNA as well? Pretty cool if you ask me."
















Module 2: System Engineering

Inception: "A dream within a dream"

20.109: "A system within a system.....hopefully it won't take over 5 tries to understand it though"

Module 3: Biomaterial Engineering

Interstellar: "We're not meant to save the world. We're meant to leave it"

20.109: "....Um well have you seen our dye-sensitized solar cells? Futuristic Earth would look much better if we could start implementing our new and efficient energy solutions now"