The Institute Colloquium: Why the life sciences are different
Date
Monday, October 28, 2013 16:30 - 17:30
Speaker
Bernard Chazelle (Princeton University)
Location
Raiffeisen Lecture Hall, Central Building
Series
Colloquium
Tags
Institute Colloquium
Contact
Just as physics speaks the language of mathematics, the life sciences speak the language of algorithms. The difference lies in the high descriptive complexity of the systems commonly found in social and biological organisms. While history plays a minor role in physics, it is the distinguishing feature of the living world. Algorithms provide not only the expressivity needed to model complex living systems but also the analytical tools for their analyses. This (self-contained) talk will discuss the power of "natural algorithms" through the lens of "influence systems," a broad family of high-dimensional dynamical systems for which algorithmic tools can do what differential equations cannot.