A Breakthrough Worth Waiting For

Science involves not just analyzing but also understanding. In this book we ventured the marriage of math and biology. This is the mathematics of life.

I have been living in this world with jam-packed ideas and questions circulating in my mind. The moment we wake up we experience life, but not just life but mathematics in it. We all have our daily routines. Here then math enters, life is all about cycles; patterns that are discovered and about to be. Stuart is ambitious yet he can justify it by the way he had written his masterpiece which we are enjoying. He started with the 5 major revolutions in biology. I tell you that I am bias as I can be as a biology student in focusing on scientific matters.

I have admired Leeuwenhoek since then. As a simple tradesman and lens enthusiast, his curiosity led him to the breakthrough of the first revolution; the invention of the simple microscope. His tiny creation has made him discover the tiniest of the tiny which can’t be seen with naked eyes. I am amazed, first because of God’s creation. Second, because the desire to explore the microscopic world is exemplary. Carolous Linnaeus is to blame for the second major revolution in the study of life. Classification; it has never been easy. A good example is you cannot categorize the rich and poor by just looking at them; you need to have a basis. Life can be classified by different hierarchy thanks to the father of taxonomy Carolous. The 8 levels are still the basis of classification until today, only that taxonomy has now a greater scope involving more advanced techniques.

Let’s discuss about Darwin, my favourit scientist and his theory of evolution. Charles Darwin was one of the smartest and most curious men that ever lived on earth that is why I admire him; his explanations on natural selection and his studies were a blast. He sure is adventurous with his quests trying to build a puzzle with tiny pieces. His book On the Origin of Species was a creative diary on his goal to describe the changes that an organism undergoes in order to survive, adaptation and the alike. His only downfall was not being able to explain how? That is why another major revolution (4^th) was born by geneticist Gregor Mendel. Our genetic makeup dictates who we are since we differ as individuals due to genetic variation. Here then we can apply math specifically statistics in calculating and analyzing why does our phenotype (physical, physiological traits) differ. But nothing beats the fifth revolution; the discovery of the DNA and its structure. DNA is our identity and its amazing structure was describes to us by Watson and Crick. This advancement led us to a new world of understanding. Nowadays classification is brought to a molecular level, DNA sequencing/amplification, using PCR techniques and etc. to get the specific gene that makes an organism unique, to study and even used in classification. The knot theory has been used in analyzing strands of DNA that are tangled. I can confidently say that everything in biology is interconnected because life is simply amazing and with math around it is breath taking.

Ecology specifically demographics depends on math particularly statistics that is why I can say math is significant even as a biologist. The Fibonacci number is the best depiction of nature bound with the patterns using numbers. Using the reproductive pattern of rabbits Leonardo of Pisa also known as Fibonacci discovered this pattern from nature which is used in pure math. This phenomenon is found in petal numbers, tree branching, and even the reproduction and life cycle of bees. Indeed it is not just biology that needs math; math also is in need of biology.

The concept of life is uncertain just like as it is in mathematics. I would like to point out Stuarts point on extraterrestrial existence. We are to adjust the basis on what things and life are outside our world. Life in the whole universe is a big mystery which is studied for centuries but as of now we haven’t made significant progresses yet. We might not know but aliens out there can be found using specific coordinates. Like astronauts I like to think the unimaginable that is why I do not doubt the existence of life forms outside the earth. The universe having no limitations is like math; we are never sure because these two things are validated continuously. It is certain that life is not just on earth but the real deal is how to prove it.

Nature is an abstract form in which math is clearly transformed into life. No matter if an organism is bilaterally, radially symmetrical or having no symmetry at all; each is interconnected with all the biotic and abiotic components there are in the world. The reduction of math to other fields like physics and chemistry attracted it to biology. Mathematics for Stuart is the 6^th revolution waiting to blast. It is starting now, and sooner or later biologist will learn to love the beauty brought by math. Biomathematics will rise tall being a subject that is stunning and exciting.

Math has never been easy, like life it has peculiarities but nevertheless both are fun. At the end I can foresee that the association of mathematics and biology is infinite ∞