I think biology without mathematics is like physics before Newton: you could observe a star’s position yesterday and today, but you could not predict where it would be tomorrow. Biology without mathematics is phenomenological – we are merely collecting data, but we cannot make useful predictions or obtain a quantitative understanding. Biomathematics is still in its infancy, but has already and will make important contributions to biology (Hodgkin-Huxley etc.).

— Franziska Michor: math of cancer

— Lubos Motl

2010.08.11 Wednesday ACHK