PEEKING INTO LIVE CELLS

摘要

Averages can sometimes mislead. Just looking at averages, an observer who didn't know better could conclude that every person is half male and half female. Only by looking at individuals does it become obvious that aperson can only be one or the other. In biological research, ensemble measurements can lead to the same sort of problem. Measurements that capture only the average of a population of molecules blur the differences between individual molecules, and important information is lost.