4 ms·

A Physicist’s Approach to Biology Brings Ecological Insights

46 points by zeristor 6y ago

DrAwdeOccarim 6y ago
Super cool article! Off topic, but of course I can't help but be reminded of this: https://xkcd.com/793/ https://xkcd.com/793/
zartar 6y ago
i'm just going to leave this here: http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf
- intotheabyss 6y ago
  Are you trying to make me waste an afternoon!? But seriously, this is great stuff. Thanks for the link
- dang 6y ago
  Past threads on Schrödinger's "What Is Life", for the curious: 2017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15270606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15270606 2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18906495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18906495
dekhn 6y ago
There is an entire field of study known as biophysics which is basically this. My PhD program in biophysics is typically about 50% physics majors, 50% bio majors. Makes for interesting discussions and journal clubs. The physics folks always have a hard time picking up the biology, and vice versa, but it's a very effective way to study biology. One of my favorite anecdotes, heard straight from the scientist himself: "You remember that scene in The Right Stuff where one of the astronauts sees funny scintillations when he's in space? I wanted to understand more about cosmic rays, so I did some calculations, came up with some filters that ensured only a (statistical) single particle would make it from the linear accelerator to the test subject, and then sat down in the beam to see what it would look like." I thought he was bullshitting and then I found https://www.nature.com/articles/239209a0 https://www.nature.com/articles/239209a0
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- monkeycantype 6y ago
  That sounds lots of fun. I had an awesome afternoon, a little while back, when a friend of mine and i googled bout how the pulses in the optic nerve work and used the idea of nyquist frequency to work out the point at which (even if your photoreceptors could do it) you can't tell if a spoked wheel is spinning backwards or forwards. clearly not groundbreaking, just us figuring something out we didn't know. I want in I'm looking up biophysics now.
j7ake 6y ago
For some basic introduction to some of this work check out Strogatz nonlinear dynamics book, highly recommend.

46 points by zeristor 6y ago

Super cool article! Off topic, but of course I can't help but be reminded of this: https://xkcd.com/793/ https://xkcd.com/793/

zartar 6y ago

i'm just going to leave this here: http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf http://www.whatislife.ie/downloads/What-is-Life.pdf

intotheabyss 6y ago
Are you trying to make me waste an afternoon!? But seriously, this is great stuff. Thanks for the link
dang 6y ago
Past threads on Schrödinger's "What Is Life", for the curious: 2017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15270606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15270606 2019 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18906495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18906495

dekhn 6y ago

There is an entire field of study known as biophysics which is basically this. My PhD program in biophysics is typically about 50% physics majors, 50% bio majors. Makes for interesting discussions and journal clubs. The physics folks always have a hard time picking up the biology, and vice versa, but it's a very effective way to study biology. One of my favorite anecdotes, heard straight from the scientist himself: "You remember that scene in The Right Stuff where one of the astronauts sees funny scintillations when he's in space? I wanted to understand more about cosmic rays, so I did some calculations, came up with some filters that ensured only a (statistical) single particle would make it from the linear accelerator to the test subject, and then sat down in the beam to see what it would look like." I thought he was bullshitting and then I found https://www.nature.com/articles/239209a0 https://www.nature.com/articles/239209a0

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
monkeycantype 6y ago
That sounds lots of fun. I had an awesome afternoon, a little while back, when a friend of mine and i googled bout how the pulses in the optic nerve work and used the idea of nyquist frequency to work out the point at which (even if your photoreceptors could do it) you can't tell if a spoked wheel is spinning backwards or forwards. clearly not groundbreaking, just us figuring something out we didn't know. I want in I'm looking up biophysics now.

j7ake 6y ago

For some basic introduction to some of this work check out Strogatz nonlinear dynamics book, highly recommend.