Super Powers

Today, I thought about the cartoons my son watches—Paw Patrol and PJ Masks. It’s hard not to go a little crazy watching how unrealistic they are. The pups can fly, swim in the ocean, and lift meteors. The PJ Masks? Even more absurd. They're regular kids during the day, and become superheroes at night—without ever sleeping? And how exactly do they transform?

All this talk of superpowers got me thinking: what is power, really?

Philosophically, power might mean status, hierarchy, dominance, politics, or sheer luck—being born into the right family or tribe. Physiologically, the human body can only gain so much power by building muscle. But at the core of every push or pull we make, there’s a molecular truth: actin and myosin.

This concept goes all the way back to the first lectures in molecular cell biology. At the microscopic level, power lives in the surfaces of molecules—surfaces that interact. These interactions are often non-covalent, based on molecular complementarity: opposite charges attract, hydrophobic parts tuck together, shapes fit like puzzle pieces. They bind, then shift, and unbind again. A beautiful dance.

It’s the same mechanism that drives muscle contraction—myosin heads "walking" along actin fibers. And it doesn’t happen without energy: ATP fuels it, and Ca²⁺ regulates it. In fact, muscle cells use up a lot of ATP just to store calcium back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum after contraction.

So when we talk about a power stroke, what we’re really talking about is myosin gliding on actin, powered by ATP. More muscle fibers mean more myosin heads. That’s our human power, right there—bundled, limited, elegant.

Which makes me wonder: what is a superpower, really?

Maybe we recognize power because we know our limits. Maybe recognizing that we are weak, finite, and not-so-capable is what makes anything "super-powered" so awe-inspiring. Superpowers are our way of imagining the impossible, the beyond-human.

So what’s the value in raising kids in a world of superheroes that don’t exist?

Maybe... it’s that they pretend to be heroes.

Maybe they start to wish to be helpful, courageous, and kind.

Maybe that wish is where the real power begins.

Do you ever think about superpowers?

Would you want one?

Maybe you already have one—a gut feeling, a sixth sense.

We might have powers we haven’t even named yet. 😊