Luescher Anne M, Heckel Reinhard, Grass Robert N
Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
TUM School of Computation Information and Technology, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 29;16(1):6969. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62353-1.
Physical sources of randomness are indispensable for information technology and cryptography. Yet, the usefulness of random processes seems to be ignored by many natural science researchers, who are exposed to the downsides of randomness, which adds noise and uncertainty to experiments. Here, we look at experimental science through the lens of information theory, with entropy as a key concept that bridges multiple fields. By examining physical unclonable functions and molecular information technology, we highlight interdisciplinary research leveraging these synergies. With this perspective, we hope to inspire the fascination of randomness and entropy in science, encouraging new research directions across different disciplines.
随机数的物理来源对于信息技术和密码学来说不可或缺。然而，许多自然科学研究人员似乎忽视了随机过程的有用性，他们面临着随机性带来的负面影响，因为随机性会给实验增加噪声和不确定性。在这里，我们从信息论的角度审视实验科学，将熵作为连接多个领域的关键概念。通过研究物理不可克隆函数和分子信息技术，我们强调利用这些协同作用的跨学科研究。从这个角度出发，我们希望激发科学界对随机性和熵的兴趣，鼓励不同学科的新研究方向。
