Does even high level molecular biology lack complexity and real difficulty?
As a molecular biology BSc student, I feel like the field is lacks abstraction and conceptual difficulty compared to something like physics or chemistry.
In physics, there are numerous mathematical formulas, but the real challenge is understanding how those equations relate to real physical phenomena, rather than just remembering them.
Chemistry feels similar in a different way. While it doesn't involve complex equations to the same extent, it relies heavily on understanding quantum mechanics, atomic interactions. This is both abstract and difficult to comprehend.
Molecular biology, in contrast, often feels like it relies on simplified descriptions of everything. Probably because these simplifications are 'good enough' for practical applications and because actually applying deep understanding of molecular and sub-molecular interactions is practically impossible for large biological systems.
Examples of this include for instance all the -omics fields. But even structural biology, which is probably the lowest scale of biology-research , seems to rely on high school level chemistry and physics or perhaps a bit higher level. The only difficult thing about molbio in my experience is that there is so much to remember, so many proteins, so many interactions, etc, which isnt really mentally stimulating in the same way
Now my issue is that I find this way too boring. It simply just isnt mentally challenging enough for me. I consider myself somewhat of an overachiever. I have for instance been placed top 50% at the international biology olympiad, so I feel like I really have given molbio a chance, as any subject, bio-related or not, will of course feel simplified in the beginning.
I would love to hear the thoughts of other people in the field.