Whitesides George M
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, 12 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Nat Biotechnol. 2003 Oct;21(10):1161-5. doi: 10.1038/nbt872.
The biological and physical sciences share a common interest in small structures (the definition of 'small' depends on the application, but can range from 1 nm to 1 mm). A vigorous trade across the borders of these areas of science is developing around new materials and tools (largely from the physical sciences) and new phenomena (largely from the biological sciences). The physical sciences offer tools for synthesis and fabrication of devices for measuring the characteristics of cells and sub-cellular components, and of materials useful in cell and molecular biology; biology offers a window into the most sophisticated collection of functional nanostructures that exists.
生物科学和物理科学对微小结构有着共同的兴趣（“微小”的定义取决于应用场景，但范围可从1纳米到1毫米）。围绕新材料和工具（主要来自物理科学）以及新现象（主要来自生物科学），这两个科学领域之间正在蓬勃开展跨界交流。物理科学提供用于合成和制造测量细胞及亚细胞成分特性的设备以及细胞和分子生物学中有用材料的工具；而生物学则为了解现存最复杂的功能性纳米结构集合提供了一扇窗口。
