Imagine another character now, except surrounded by half-ghosts. Some of these “characters”—like type I interferon, the toll-like receptor, or the neutrophil—are mostly visible, except they exist in the half-light of visibility. We think we know and understand them, but we don’t, really. Some only cast shadows. Some are completely invisible. Some mislead us about their identities. And there are others around us whose presence we cannot even sense. We haven’t even met them, or named them, yet. I, too, have a name for this condition: scientist. We look, we create, we imagine—but find only
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