Two big ideas in biology: the evolution of species via mutation, fitness and natural selection; and the embryological development of individuals, from fertilized egg to whole organisms. How do these two big ideas—“evo-devo,” as it’s called—relate? What novel ideas emerge?
What is information in biology? information is essential for analyzing data and testing hypotheses. But what is information in molecular genetics and neuroscience? What in evolution, population genetics and levels of selection? Why is computational biology transformational?
Philosophy of Biology has two sides: the process of science and the content of biology. We address key questions. What is the nature of life? How does evolution work and what are its challenges? How to consider race, sex/gender, cognition, culture, morality, healthcare, religion, alien life and alien intelligences.
How can philosophy advance biology? How can biology influence philosophy? In this first series on Philosophy of Biology, Closer to Truth explores the challenges and implications of evolution. We ask how life on earth came to be as it is, and how humans came to be as we are. We address biologically based issues, such…
Roger Penrose—mathematician, physicist, philosopher—was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. We speak with Roger about our favorite, fundamental questions. What things exist? What is math and why does it work? What’s fundamental in the cosmos?
If life is a vast space of possibilities, then mathematics can engage with biology. Statistics analyze biological data, and mathematical models improve biological theories and reveal hidden commonalties. But could the mathematics of biology touch fundamental realities?
If life is a vast space of possibilities, then mathematics can engage with biology. Statistics analyze biological data, and mathematical models improve biological theories and reveal hidden commonalties. But could the mathematics of biology touch fundamental realities?
“Power laws” are mathematical relationships expressed by exponents or logarithms—why are they so powerful in describing the world? Why are power laws found in diverse complex systems in biology and society? How could simple arithmetic have explanatory potency?
Consider three powers of probability: refining data, assessing theories, probing ultimate reality. Watch how these work in cosmology: confidence in precise measurements; assessing competing models; revealing how quantum fluctuations became galactic structures.
Call mathematics the purest form of knowledge, universal messaging anyone, anywhere, can understand. For math to advance, there must be breakthroughs, which may seem like magic. What are mathematical breakthroughs? How do they happen? How do they work?
The astonishing effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences, especially in physics, borders on the mysterious—and there seems no rational explanation. Our bafflement stimulates novel thinking. How to assess the meaning of math’s “unreasonable effectiveness”?
Does mathematics have two transcendent attributes: truth and beauty? What makes math true? What makes math beautiful? Are there different kinds of mathematical existence? How can math combine idealized perfection and explanatory simplicity?