Recently, possibly because I have not been so happy with some of the events happening in the world, I have wondered what I would do if I had absolute power over everything in the universe, if I could change anything I wanted.  What would I do if I magically had absolute control over everything?  It is a fun thing to think about.  I am a PhD physicist and have loved science and truth from my youth, so I realized that to have absolute power, I would have to break a few of the laws of nature: wave my hand and viruses disappear, for example, or tap my staff on the ground and political differences would fade away.

      Then my logical mind spoiled my fun.  Suppose I had the power to change even the weakest force of nature, suppose I could suspend gravity, even for a second.  I know from my knowledge of physical laws that the enormous pressures inside the earth and stars, unchecked by gravity, would cause everything to blow apart.  Even if I only made gravity disappear for a second, devastation would surround me as everything on the surface of the earth would break apart while the earth surged outward, eight minutes later, the sun’s flare would consume the earth.  The destruction of the whole cosmos would follow.   The planets and all matter would veer from their appointed course.  Even with all this power, I don’t believe that I would have the knowledge I would need to to fix everything I caused, or even to survive the consequences of my actions.  Oops.

      As I gaze out my window and see the colors of the leaves changing on the trees, with the beautiful sunset in the distance, maybe everything is just as it should be.  I am content to let the laws of the universe be as they are.  What power do I have, what can I choose to do?  I have the power to raise my arm and move my fingers over my keyboard.  That is an incredible power, to move my body and mind according to my choosing.  Even if that is the only power I have, maybe I can still change the world.  Come to think of it, with my knowledge of physics and biology, I can choose to do quite a few things.

     With my knowledge of atomic and nuclear physics, for example, I have enough knowledge to make a nuclear bomb, if I had enough of the necessary materials.  With my knowledge of nanotechnology, I could make a bomb out of available materials that would explode with enough energy to cause the same destruction (nanoparticles oxidize very fast).  How about microwaves that would kill anything living instantly?  As I think about it, it is a good that great scientists are not motivated by evil intentions because with their knowledge they could readily build technologies that could destroy everything.  Luckily, the best minds in science are motivated by much better intentions.  True motivation to gain knowledge almost always drives us to a greater purpose.

     I have seen, with the help of an electron microscope, nanoparticles that are just the right size and shape to stick to viruses and stop them from replicating.  I have spent many years working on a way to make such nanoparticles inexpensively on a mass scale, my intentions were noble.   So now, even without breaking the laws of nature or using magic, I have the power to safely slow down viral replication enough so that the immune system has a chance to win.  This is a powerful tool that can be used to save lives.  Other scientists also have come up with effective technologies in their own sphere.

    With another technology In my sphere of knowledge, I have helped develop a set of redox-generated reactive oxygen molecules (the same one’s that the immune system uses) that can kill microbes on contact but are perfectly safe to put on, in, and around any type of human living tissue.  I have held a mouse in my hand that was injected with huge amounts (20% of the blood volume) of a specific type of this redox compound and the mouse was very much alive, aware and playful afterwards.  The technicians had a hard time catching these energetic little mice to take observations.  Years of studies have proven absolute safety for this compound inside and outside the body.

      If we have such high-potential, safe and effective technologies, why do we not leverage them for good?  Doesn’t it sound like such technologies could be key players in the fight against infectious organisms that are causing so much devastation and misery for so many of us?  These technologies work with the laws of nature, they enhance our natural immune response, they are perfectly safe, available and ready to go right now.  Along with me, hundreds of other scientists have seen them.  They exist.  They work.  Studies and science have proven them out for many years now.  So it just might be that having the power to move my body and exercise my mind is enough.  We might not need magic or to break the laws of nature after all.  We can work in harmony with the law of nature.  Maybe what we need is inside us already to be released by our collective mind, the unity of our community.