links for 2010-09-27

Something I wrote back in 2008: Biology is messy

Some folks think biology behaves properly and regularly like electronics (which we all know is a passing fad). Go into any laboratory and you will see the modern-day alchemist repeating experiments that work one day and not the other, joking about the phases of the moon or position of the chairs.

Do I feel this way because it is so early in the neo-biology game? Am I just an old fuddy-duddy who learned biology in the previous century?

I think that's irrelevant. Digital electronics have distracted us from the analogue world, such that when we turn our attentions to biology, we've forgotten how to think in gradients, thresholds, probability, or chaotic flows in regulatory networks. Indeed, the biochemistry I learned and did was all about this and it's a thrilling way of doing things. I think those with strong digital sensibilities will have a hard time embracing the uncertainty and variability so common in biological systems.

"Noise, far from just a nuisance, has begun to be appreciated for its essential role in key cellular activities. Noise functions in both microbial and eukaryotic cells, in multicellular development, and in evolution." (reg required)

Great review.