"We now realize that the phenomena of chemical interactions, and, ultimately life itself,
are to be understood in terms of electromagnetism" (Richard P. Feynman)
Navigator Peter Apell (Soliden-2050/7723187)
Hand-out: Biological Physics, Hans Frauenfelder, Peter G. Wolynes and Robert H. Austin, Rev. Mod. Phys. Vol. 71, S419 (1999).
Monday 23/10: 10-11.45 (FL71) Introduction and Mechanics
Monday 23/10: 13.15-15 (FL71) Electromagnetism and Chemistry together
Background material
(Describes the different obstacles which have to be overcome in an era where there is a strong tendency of physics entering the biological sciences)
The author gives a lot of examples of how physicist can contribute to contemporary biology and what possible barriers which have to be overcome).
(Gives a good background to 1) theory of language, 2) how close the a linguistic approach is to the physics science approach and
3) language development in itself which is a perfectly reasonable research field also for physicists)
(A perfect account of the close connections between art and science when it comes to model building; i.e. only keeping the really fundamental ingredients)
(One of the key figures in modern biology discusses one of the major mistakes in genetic research during this century -
the moral is that even the best make mistakes but if you don't do anything you don't even make mistakes)
(This gives a good summary of major steps in oral and written presentations which is an integral part of our course.
Stresses the writing process - so why not start reflecting about how you take notes?)
(This is a reminder about our use of language and the ease with which we mix the word itself and the real phenomenon.
Currents are electrons moving in wires. The word electron here denotes a real phenomenon with special properties,
we can measure, but it is not the electron itself!)
(This is one of the most used text books - a good reference book when you want to look up the really chemical and biological nature of the systems)
(Gives a good feeling for how materials built in a structured way can achieve very good strength for a low weight - a common biological way of solving this problem)
fundamental biology and biochemistry, a friend for life!)
(Here you can read more about the biology and mechanis around walking, jumping etc)
(This home page has more about arms and backs while Hobbie above is more legs!)
(This paper is supposed to give you a feeling for how it is for tiny objects to move around in plain water
and gives a good insight in topological constraints for being able to swim at all)
(With 21 orders of magnitude difference between the mass of the smallest and the largest animal scaling theory is a way of
finding common features - yes we seem to be smarter than the dinosaurs!)
(Gives a beautiful account of how the heart can be represented by an electric dipole and what potential this gives on the chest)
(Here you get a better background to how nerves are conducting and what their structure is)
(This is one of the best textbooks on first year level which covers all physics and has a lot of examples from biology)
R.W.P. King and T.T. Wu, Phys. Rev. E58, 2363 (1998)
(This is a research article where you should be able to follow the first chapters and see how the electromagnetism
you have learned is applied to cells exposed to e-m fields)
Home problems
