What is all the fuss about life science? Isn't science of life biology? Then why are there thousands of students in NUS taking up life science courses and why life science in Poly became so hot? Merely a few years back there isn't a life science department in NUS. Why? Is it because someone managed to map the DNA? Or is it because there is a huge market in gene therapy and growing of spare human parts?

The storyline is becoming all too familiar. In the 90s we had IT and computers. Anyone in this line were making money so everybody took courses in computers and/or IT hoping for a high paying IT job in the future. In fact when I graduated from JC, I received a brochure that says IT graduates command the highest starting pay compared to other fields. Then the bubble burst and the influx of cheaper alternative left many people stranded. What about the engineers before them? Now the first choice career in Singapore is Life Science, how many years will the bubble survive? When the life science bubble burst in the future, I guess we will be hearing the news about Singaporeans need to upgrade you skills, that you shouldn't be choosy about your jobs yada yada stuff again when the unemployment rate hits high.

All these years I have seen how the government puts money into life science from promoting it in schools to building biopolis for it. A few years back I volunteered for a science program to assist secondary school students in performing research projects. All the schools wanted were chemistry and biology undergraduates as they are focusing on life science projects. So after traveling from one end of the country to another end enthusiastically to attend the briefing we end up with no assignments on hand for physics undergraduate. In fact, some of the research centers for the students only cater for life science research only.

It is a mistake to put all the eggs in a basket. Those gahmen must straighten their thinking and put some of the funds and effort to support other researches too. Research techniques used in chemistry and physics proved to be useful for medical or life science research. After all, there are only so many things that you can see from an optical microscope or X-ray machine. Research to understand the behavior of micro objects and fluid could result in a portable micro lab device that could test for diseases from a single drop of blood. Sadly the progress is slow due to the lack of funds and researchers in this area.

Breakthrough in research for one field can be beneficial for other fields in science and technology. So if your child has interest in science, make sure he/she gets exposure to the different fields in science rather than one single area. Who knows he/she may revolutionize nanotechnology or design the new generation of quantum computers, possibly the next “in” thing.

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