@sco, I know what you mean, I also experience it. Every time someone asks me "what is your project about" I try to put it in very simple words; however if they ask further I realize immediately that there are lots of background knowledge that I would need to explain in order for them to grasp the main hypothesis I work with.

I think anything that works on understanding general principles rather than specifics, like AL, can help us make big leaps in the way we understand the biology of things.