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SUMMARY:Approaching biology discretely - Professor Timothy Newman (Univ. D
 undee)
DTSTART:20130524T130000Z
DTEND:20130524T140000Z
UID:TALK44394@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Shery Huang
DESCRIPTION: The idea that physical systems are deterministic\, and codifi
 ed by differential equations\, has been extraordinarily useful in understa
 nding classical physical phenomena. This idea\, whether imposed deliberate
 ly or not\, has underlain much of the theoretical modeling of living syste
 ms. I will argue that a fundamentally non-deterministic approach to biolog
 y is typically more appropriate. Such probabilistic thinking naturally pla
 ces more importance on the discreteness of living systems and their compon
 ents\, which in turn raises interesting questions about the relative expla
 natory power of emergence versus regulation in biology. I will temper the 
 philosophical tenor of this talk by presenting in detail two examples of d
 iscrete modeling\, which have uncovered surprising new insights in the wel
 l-studied problems of cancer metastasis and predator-prey cycles.
LOCATION:Small Lecture Theatre\, Cavendish Laboratory
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