...that seemed to reflect the size of seeds the birds ate.
ATP is your answer here :)
There are lots:
Biology and Medicine - cloning and expression of human insulin in bacteria (stopped having to produce it from pig pancreases); Watson & Crick discovery of the structure of DNA; gene therapy in humans
Chemistry - determination of the exact number of molecules in a mole (Avagadro's number); discovery of radioactivity (Rutherford); the invention of nylon (DuPont); Boyle's law (behavior of gases)
ATP can't store large amounts of energy for long periods of time.