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When Biology and Math Collide

In "When Biology and Math Collide," Kat Arney discusses the meeting of mathematics and biology—and why the disciplines remain uneasy bedfellows.

While many biologists have a seeming allergy to equations, Arney writes, mathematicians most comfortable with theory tend to shy away from the messiness of the life sciences lab. 

The worlds are slowly converging, though, as the utility of mathematical modeling in biology becomes clear.

“Biology is more like computing—it’s about information processing and decision making," says James Sharpe of the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain. "By using computers to tackle more complex questions we can actually study biology, rather than reducing biology to physics. It’s very exciting.”

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Start Date: 
Thursday, September 25, 2014