Fundamental Questions in Biology

Simon A Levin

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040300

Abstract

Fundamental Questions in Biology

Highlights

Virtually every major university had a department of biology, or perhaps bookend departments of zoology and botany, which complemented physics, chemistry, mathematics, and possibly geology to form its science foundation
Much of that advancement has involved the development of new tools, both in the laboratory and in computer models, and this has been dependent on the migration into biology departments of tools and people from physics, mathematics, chemistry, and elsewhere
Metagenomic methods are being applied to the collection of storehouses of genetic information about whole ecosystems, especially the oceans; but such information is of limited value unless one understands how that information is organized, how it is distributed over the biota, and why specific genes are associated with particular regions of the ecosystem

Summary

Introduction

Virtually every major university had a department of biology, or perhaps bookend departments of zoology and botany, which complemented physics, chemistry, mathematics, and possibly geology to form its science foundation. Departments of biology or botany/zoology have split and split again, producing departments of cell and molecular biology, ecology and evolutionary biology, neurobiology and behavior, genetics and development, physiology, and so on, reflecting the particular cultures of the specific institutions.

Results

Conclusion