Seven Wonders of Biology - by Niko McCarty - Asimov Press

A decades-old essay offers newfound appreciation for progress.

In 1983, a New York physician named Lewis Thomas, moonlighting as an essayist for The New England Journal of Medicine, published a collection entitled Late Night Thoughts on Listening to Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. One of its gems, “Seven Wonders,” has long lingered in my mind. The essay’s premise is simple. Thomas has received an invitation from a magazine editor to help replace the ancient Seven Wonders with seven modern ones. Unable to settle on a list of man-made monuments, however, Thomas chooses instead to make a list of natural Wonders. His final list features everything from…

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