(More procrastinating about the lit review)
Came across this article (Cancer Cell 2 2002) about biology. In it, the author presents an interesting look at the progress of scientific inquiry. He’s talking about apoptosis (programmed cell death), but this is applicable to any field. First, he says, there is a few people sharing some ideas about ‘out-there’ concepts. Then one of them comes up with a discovery that shows this area has wide applicability and commercialization potential. A gold rush ensues, with associated impoliteness. Then, the frenzy peaks as science reaches a wall, and models fail to explain the data. E.g.:
the mystery of what the tumor suppressor p53 actually does seems only to deepen as the number of publications about this protein rises above 23,000.
He follows this observation with an example of how biologists and engineers differ. He examines a radio that both groups model to understand, and compares the model. A very interesting point is made about how biologists describe but without a common language that engineers do have. A good lesson in the importance of modeling and vocabulary.
Tags: apoptosis, biology, General
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