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Physics of Life (2022) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 238-265

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From page 238...
... . Implementation of these principles in limbless robots has led to significantly improved mobility, illustrating the power of interaction among traditional biomechanics, robotics, and biological physics (see Box 7.2)
From page 239...
... -- is a more recent, but arguably even more grand idea. There have been important successes with pieces of this problem, such as acoustic signal pro cessing that is modeled on the mechanics of the inner ear, or decomposing complex signals into positive parts, emulating the fact that neurons cannot generate negative action potentials.
From page 240...
... Twentieth-century discoveries about the dynamics of individual neurons, and the nature of their connections, seeded the idea that models of neural networks could embody com putational functions. As described in Chapter 3, even simple models of individual neurons, if connected in arbitrary ways, can generate complex dynamics and have considerable computational power.
From page 241...
... The influx of ideas from statistical physics to neural networks emphasizes that signal processing often involves an implicit model for the probability distribution of the incoming signals. This idea has been central to thinking about coding in real brains (Chapter 2)
From page 242...
... An alternative, which also goes back to the origins of these models in the biological physics community, is to build special purpose hardware, taking seriously the analog nature of computation in the nervous system. This is a rich field, which requires thinking about how basic mathematical operations carried out by neurons could be realized by semiconductor device physics.
From page 244...
... Science helps us to understand the world, but also holds that understanding to exacting standards, reminding us how difficult it can be to find convincing answers to important questions. Science is not just a foundation for technology and medicine, but part of human culture, and biological physics has a unique role to play in this larger cultural enterprise.
From page 245...
... This chapter explores how the emergence of biological physics fits into the culture of physics education, how biological physics can be integrated into the physics curriculum, and how this field can be leveraged to enhance the education of scientists more generally. As we explore the educational challenges and opportunities created by the emergence of biological physics, it will be clear that some of these are internal to physics departments, while others involve collaboration between physics faculty and colleagues in other departments.
From page 246...
... The findings, conclusions, and recommendations that emerge from this report address only part of this larger issue. CURRENT STATE OF EDUCATION IN BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS The current state of education in biological physics is largely a state of un tapped opportunity.
From page 247...
... The neglect of the living world, and its exploration by the physics community, continues into more advanced physics courses. Discussions of electric circuits and current flow seldom touch on the electrical dynamics of neurons; advanced mechanics courses seldom hint at the challenges of walking; optics courses rarely explain the principles of optical trapping or super-resolution microscopy; and quantum mechanics courses leave as mysteries the broad optical absorption bands of biological molecules, so different from atoms in gas phase but so central to the ability of life on Earth to capture the energy of the sun and to the rich colors that we experience every day.
From page 248...
... The problems identified in the undergraduate physics curriculum have a pro found impact on efforts to grow the biological physics community. But these prob lems are more general, and have a much broader impact.
From page 249...
... The structure of the undergraduate physics curriculum also influences how physics is viewed and understood by students and scientists in other disciplines. For the biological physics community the most important of these connections is with students and colleagues in the life sciences.
From page 250...
... tracks the awarding of PhDs in the United States by field and subfield; since 2004 NCSES has tracked biological physics as a subfield of physics, with the results shown in Figure 8.1. Al though many people have the sense that biological physics is a nascent or minor activity in the physics community, in fact, the number of students receiving PhDs and doing their thesis research in biological physics now is comparable to the numbers in well-established subfields, and this has happened in just 15 years.
From page 251...
... Finding: Biological physics remains poorly represented in the core undergrad uate physics curriculum, and few students have opportunities for specialized courses that convey the full breadth and depth of the field. 350 biological physics biophysics (bio)
From page 252...
... There are numerous opportunities to strengthen the effort, both within physics departments and at areas of intersection with other fields. This discussion of education is in the context of the first conclusion, from Part I of this report: Conclusion: Biological physics, or the physics of living systems, now has emerged fully as a field of physics, alongside more traditional fields of astro physics and cosmology; atomic, molecular, and optical physics; condensed matter physics; nuclear physics; particle physics; and plasma physics.
From page 253...
... Throughout these efforts, it is crucial to ground education in biological physics firmly in the intellectual framework and principles of physics, even as we draw examples and inspiration from the fields with which it intersects. Biological Physics in the Physics Curriculum The different fields of physics often are represented by specialized courses aimed at advanced undergraduates or graduate students.
From page 254...
... The Core Curriculum The most straightforward way to expose physics students to living systems early in their education is to weave topics from biological physics into introduc tory courses. Standing waves literally come to life when explaining the physics of how Escherichia coli finds its middle via Min protein oscillations (Chapter 1)
From page 255...
... There have been several good starts in this direction, but the committee concludes that much more is needed. As noted above, two topics in the core physics curriculum stand out for their great relevance to biological physics -- statistical physics and optics.
From page 256...
... Among other neglected topics, optical traps and tweezers, laser scanning, nonlinear optical imaging modalities, and imaging beyond the diffraction limit all belong in the undergraduate curriculum. Specific Recommendation: Physics faculty should modernize undergraduate laboratory courses to include modules on light microscopy that emphasize recent developments, and highlight connections to biological physics.
From page 257...
... In addition to reinforcing the general physics culture, this approach will help physics students, who may not have extensive previous knowledge of biology, not to get lost in a sea of biological details. Conclusion: The great breadth of the field poses a challenge in teaching an introduction to biological physics for advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students.
From page 258...
... Physics departments might require their undergraduates to take particular advanced courses in applicable mathematics, they might offer their own courses on the mathematical methods of physics, or they might assume that more advanced methods are taught as part of physics courses; many institutions offer a mix of these approaches. For students interested in deeper exploration of biological physics, what is missing from the conventional collection of mathematical methods is not so much particular topics as an understanding that these methods fit into larger and more generally applicable structures.
From page 259...
... Conventional boundaries for the mathematical methods of physics were estab lished before computers became widely available. Today, the role of computation in the practice of science cannot be overstated, and biological physics is no exception.
From page 260...
... Conclusion: Biological physics, and physics more generally, face a challenge in embracing the excitement that surrounds big data, while maintaining the unique physics culture of interaction between experiment and theory. Coda Taken together, the recommendations above point toward a more general aspect of physics culture.
From page 261...
... The previous section emphasized the opportunities for integrating biological physics into introductory courses for physics students, and the same arguments apply even more strongly to physics courses for students in the life sciences. Examples from biological physics illustrate many core principles of physics more generally, and the notion that these principles are relevant to the phenomena of life is itself an important fact, one that can change a young student's view of the intellectual landscape.
From page 262...
... Almost all research universities now have visible programs in areas that can be described as "quantitative biology," although exactly what this means is different at different institutions, and the extent to which these programs are accessible to undergrad uates also varies. Interestingly, many institutions have programs in biophysics 4   National Research Council, 2003, BIO 2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists, The National Academies Press, Washington, DC.
From page 263...
... Because of these traditions, physics departments have developed a substantial infrastructure for quantitative education -- in the laboratory, at the blackboard, and at the com puter. The emergence of biological physics as a branch of physics has made clear how all of this can be brought to bear on the phenomena of life.
From page 264...
... Conclusion: The biological physics community has a central role to play in initiatives for multidisciplinary education in quantitative biology, bioengineer ing, and related areas. General Recommendation: University and college administrators should al locate resources to physics departments as part of their growing educational and research initiatives in quantitative biology and biological engineering, acknowledging the central role of biological physics in these fields.
From page 265...
... Biological physics research groups have a special role to play in the ecosystem of undergraduate research experiences. Many experimental groups in the field are small and focus on "table top" experiments, providing a more intimate commu nity for young students.


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