May 10, 2015 11:34 PM
https://plus.maths.org/content/how-does-...arden-grow
EXCERPT: Can maths reveal new phenomena in biology? Jacques Dumais, from Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile, and Etienne Couturier, from Université Paris-Diderot in France, think that it can. The power of maths has already been demonstrated in mathematical biology, where mathematical models are inferred from quantitative biological data. For example, the empirical models from epidemiology have allowed the medical community to combat and sometimes even eradicate infectious diseases. What Dumais and Couturier are seeking, however, is slightly different. Dumais says they aim to distill underlying biological principles from observations, allowing them to predict new things in biology. "Theoretical biology is closer to theoretical physics – where the mathematics is formal enough that you can begin predicting things that have never been seen or measured," says Dumais. They hope to uncover mathematical descriptions of biological processes and that these biological laws will allow them to predict and observe previously unknown phenomena, in a similar way to the great insights that theoretical physics has made to our understanding of the physical world....
EXCERPT: Can maths reveal new phenomena in biology? Jacques Dumais, from Adolfo Ibáñez University in Chile, and Etienne Couturier, from Université Paris-Diderot in France, think that it can. The power of maths has already been demonstrated in mathematical biology, where mathematical models are inferred from quantitative biological data. For example, the empirical models from epidemiology have allowed the medical community to combat and sometimes even eradicate infectious diseases. What Dumais and Couturier are seeking, however, is slightly different. Dumais says they aim to distill underlying biological principles from observations, allowing them to predict new things in biology. "Theoretical biology is closer to theoretical physics – where the mathematics is formal enough that you can begin predicting things that have never been seen or measured," says Dumais. They hope to uncover mathematical descriptions of biological processes and that these biological laws will allow them to predict and observe previously unknown phenomena, in a similar way to the great insights that theoretical physics has made to our understanding of the physical world....