The Dawning of a (not so) New Kind of Science

I nearly forgot that I had this blog. I wish I could blame my absence on productivity elsewhere, but I have nothing to show for that. So instead, I will blame my absence on pure laziness.

I have decided to change the title of the blog to reflect a change in my passions. I am still a chemical physicist[1]. However, I have a new trajectory in my studies: biology.

The material that comprises a cell is spectacular on a chemical level. And though some people have taken the awe of the environment and ascribed to some fluffy nonsense, it is this very aspect of biology that has me intrigued. So I decided to stop staring at simple molecules and instead focus on the problems that seem to plague modern biophysics.

Every century has brought new insights into the nature of reality. The nineteenth century brought about Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, the discovery of vehicles of trait inheritance (genes) by Mendel , Maxwell's equations for electrodynamics, and the birth of statistical thermodynamics from the mind of Boltzmann. The twentieth century gave us complete understanding of the atom and allowed us to probe further the nature of molecules and the phases of matter. From this we were able to find the molecular basis of genes (DNA molecule) and the molecular composition of life (eg. proteins and cell membranes). So what will this century bring us? What exciting new discoveries could possibly arise?

This is an exciting time for this field of study. Computational power is now relatively cheap. We can run near pico-second simulations of common cellular processes. We are extending the capacities of abstract mathematics to link quantum processes with classical calculations to allow simulations of enzyme activity. Life is being explored at the atomic and molecular level, and it is at this level I feel that we can gather appreciation and understanding of our evolutionary past.

This isn't "new" for many people. Biophysics is a field older than me. But it is an ever-expanding field with high strung investigators desiring to change the landscape before them. And to this, I tell the Rabbit I will follow him down the hole and see where this takes Us.

This blog will continue (i.e. start) to talk about chemical physics, but there will be larger emphasis on biological processes. I decided to change the title to Scienctific Elucidations to better reflect the unification of biology, chemistry, and physics [2]. The URL has changed as well to reflect this. Happy journeys to my fellow travellers!
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[1] That's a fancy way of saying "I'm still a physicist imprisoned in the chemistry building".
[2] Plus, "bio-chymico-physico elucidations" seemed too much like a toungue twister