If it weren't for the lung inflammation that my COVID experience brought to me and my friends in late 2022, it would be difficult for me to realize how precious the right to breathe freely in my lungs is. This large, painless organ was attacked by bacteria and viruses in my chest cavity until a lesion appeared, and it was not perceived by me in a breathless way. It turned out that this delicate, fan-blade-like thing was also so fragile, so critical and deadly.
Biological respiration on Earth has continued for hundreds of millions of years, without a moment of interruption since the beginning of the day. Oxygen is the source and strength of life. 500 million years ago, the Cambrian explosion of life, the oxygen produced by cyanobacteria increased in the atmosphere, after which life evolved, the emergence of more advanced respiratory systems of fish ushered in the age of fish, and the exploration of fish to the beach allowed lungs and legs to be developed. People's breathing is the result of countless miracles of life.
From the biological common sense of compulsory education, we understand the mechanism of breathing, and the development of this cognition is also based on the exploration and development of the self by our ancestors in history. From the theory of blood circulation to stem cell therapy for acute respiratory distress, the mechanism of the human body as a whole has been gradually uncovered, but it is still on the way to this day.
Fluid physics tells us that the lungs are like tree roots or rivers with optimal fluid structure, and babies face the test of the lungs from the outside world at the moment of birth, and if the lungs cannot be relaxed, life will come to an abrupt end at birth. The lungs begin to experience extreme stress when people are born, and the presence of a foam-like surfactant reduces the surface tension of the lungs and overcomes the effect of volume on pressure – lungs are light objects made of fibers and foam, what could sound more romantic?
As a mechanism of complex systems, the most significant and distinctive manifestation of respiration is respiratory diseases. The confrontation and confrontation between people and asthma is protracted, China has been recorded as early as 2500 years ago, ancient Greek and ancient Roman documents are also relevant, the writer Proust was deeply trapped by asthma and had to write late at night, human beings and asthma wrestled for thousands of years, until the key protein that causes allergies and asthma was discovered, asthma treatment has advanced by leaps and bounds, but the final victory is far from being achieved.
Today, respiratory diseases have been upgraded from individual health to public health problems, ubiquitous air, has become an important part of public space, not only more and more pathogenic components in the air cause global epidemics, but also thinner and thinner atmosphere should belong to the common wealth of all mankind, each part of the global community should shoulder its due responsibility and obligation to maintain its security, so as to safeguard the interests of all mankind.
Where will the breath of the future go? At least from the medical point of view, there is still a lot of potential and space for science and technology to benefit mankind, but every step of the step means a huge risk and competition for benefits, people across time and space and breathing face to face face face on an equal footing, survival is a battle of courage, and there may never be a real victory or defeat.
"Genes, Viruses and Respiratory" presents us with a global picture of evolution, respiratory, lungs and genes from the perspective of hundreds of millions of years, and is more like a fusion of biological history, scientific history, medical history and acceptance history not so much as a popular science about lung function and disease. Its four parts, "Past", "Present", "Future" and "Beyond Time and Space", unfold the breath-centered picture of the earth's civilization, telling history and the future as vast as possible, and telling reality as subtle as possible.
Of course, due to the author's identity and perspective, this book is regarded as a comprehensive science popularization of life breathing, and its proportion is slightly unbalanced, especially the description of human lung diseases accounts for most of the space, and there are some cardiovascular-related lung diseases that are not mentioned (such as pulmonary embolism), but it is completely understandable, after all, it is difficult to adjust. In any case, as a rigorous, real-time, professional topic popular science, it is not only suitable for current promotion, but also can become an important puzzle piece in the history of science.
（2023.01.17）