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it is well known that studying microbiology requires using a lot of chemistry, doing chemistry using a lot of physics, and doing physics requires using a lot of math. In fact, it's so well known that there's an xkcd for it:
On the other hand, i've noticed that getting things done involves a spectrum in the opposite direction.
Doing electrophysiology experiments is mostly mucking around setting up equipment and getting samples. Doing data analysis is mostly converting things from one file format to another (and interacting with APIs to download data, which is similar). Starting a company appears to consist mostly of very low level tasks, such as doing dishes, locking up after everyone else leaves, making powerpoint slides less sloppy, setting up a website, keeping in touch with people.
It is interesting is that this spectrum goes in the opposite direction, that is, for these sort of tasks, doing "A" really involves doing stuff more concrete than A, rather than more abstract. Perhaps this provides another way to categorize tasks into 'theoretical' vs. 'experimental or applied'? e.g. perhaps the 'theoretical' component of microbiology often reduces to chemistry, while the 'applied' component often reduces to cooking.
