Physicists advance into biology
Glanz, J.
Science 272(5262): 646-648
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 8614817 Document Number: 463224
At a meeting of the American Physical Society in St. Louis in March, the concept that biology is sorely in need of "physicist" thinking was popular. Dozens of papers from researchers with backgrounds in both physics and biology argued that biology needs universal, mechanistic laws and detailed predictions--the hallmarks of physics. The biophysicists at the meeting were keen to demonstrate how a physicist's viewpoint can yield new insight into a range of biological systems, from the dynamics of receptors on cell membranes to the diffusion laws controlling the migration of cells during development. Biologists inside and outside the meeting claim that an understanding of structure is the first vital step and that finding universal laws of life is easier said than done. Nevertheless, many agree that biology could benefit from a focus on mechanism.