The Mathematics of Life
The book first stated that biology had 5 great
revolutions : inventing the
microscope; systematically classifying the planet's living creatures;
recognizing evolution by natural selection; discovering the gene; and
determining the structure of DNA. But the author proposed another great revolution:
mathematics.
Mathematics already took part in early science such as in
physical sciences and biology even. Mathematics merely took part in gathering
data and calculating results. But now biologists are using mathematics more
often to make new discoveries and understandings. An early use of mathematics
in biology was in 1950s when Alan Turing proposed that a process called
biochemical-diffusion could give rise to coat patterns we observe. He used
mathematical models to record the result of the coat patterns. The author also suggested that mathematics has played an
important role in understanding viruses. More specifically geometry was in aid
when it comes to the definitive structure of viruses. Different shapes and
dimensions, calculations that we use in trigonometry were used, different theories
was used in studying viruses on how to find its weakness and its weak spots.
The authors discussion on linking biology and mathematics
is captivating but the problem is he didn’t overlap each topic and tying them
all together making it quite confusing for other readers. At times the book may
be frustrating for some ideas may be quite monotonous and repetitive, not good
for those casual readers. The first five revolutions adhere well with the sixth
but the author suggests that there may be more frontiers and revolutions to
emerge.
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