Phillips Rob
Department of Applied Physics and Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
FASEB J. 2017 Oct;31(10):4207-4215. doi: 10.1096/fj.201700594.
The give and take between biology and physics is an important part of the history of modern science, with this partnership perhaps now more intimate than ever. In this essay, I explore the ways in which these different fields can strengthen each other through their distinct outlooks on some of the most important questions being asked about the living world. In particular, I highlight three areas where the perspective from physics might lead to deeper insights into the workings of cells. First, I consider what it means for two ostensibly unrelated problems to be the same, and how such sameness can provide unexpected insights into apparently unrelated phenomena. Second, I consider different conceptions of what constitutes a mechanistic understanding of a given phenomenon with an emphasis on nonmolecular notions of mechanism. The third idea is the importance of "toy problems" as a way of providing foundational insights into the real problems. Though my focus here is primarily on ways in which physics approaches might prove interesting in biology, I close with an example of how biology might substantially alter physics by providing a forum and the tools to uncover a fundamental understanding of nonequilibrium phenomena.-Phillips, R. Musings on mechanism: quest for a quark theory of proteins?
生物学与物理学之间的相互影响是现代科学史的重要组成部分，这种伙伴关系或许如今比以往任何时候都更为紧密。在本文中，我探讨了这两个不同领域如何通过对有关生物世界的一些最重要问题的独特见解来相互强化。特别地，我着重指出了物理学视角可能会带来对细胞运作更深入理解的三个领域。首先，我思考两个表面上不相关的问题实则相同意味着什么，以及这种相同性如何能为看似无关的现象提供意想不到的见解。其次，我考量对于给定现象的机械论理解的不同概念，重点关注非分子层面的机制概念。第三个观点是“简化问题”作为一种为真实问题提供基础见解的方式的重要性。尽管我在此主要关注物理学方法在生物学中可能有趣的方面，但我以一个生物学如何通过提供一个论坛和工具来揭示对非平衡现象的基本理解从而可能极大改变物理学的例子作为结尾。
——菲利普斯，R.《关于机制的思考：对蛋白质夸克理论的探寻？》
