Front Cover -- Physics of Life: The Physicist's Road to Biology -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Part I: General introduction -- Chapter 1. Introduction: the aim and the scope of the book -- Chapter 2. The physics of life: physics at several levels -- Part II: The physics basis -- Chapter 3. Concepts and numerical reference -- 3A Numerical values -- Chapter 4. Basics of classical (Newtonian) dynamics -- Chapter 5. Electricity: the core of reductionism basis -- 5A General electrostatics -- 5B Formalism of electrostatics* -- 5C Magnetism -- 5D Relations between electric and magnetic fields: Maxwell's equations* -- 5E Radiation -- Chapter 6. Quantum mechanics -- 6A The thermodynamic path to quantum mechanics -- 6B Basic principles of quantum mechanics -- 6C The hydrogen atom* -- 6D The strange features of quantum mechanics -- Chapter 7. Basic thermodynamics: introduction -- 7A Thermodynamic concepts -- 7B Energy and entropy -- 7C The second law of thermodynamics -- 7D Free energies and chemical potential -- Chapter 8. Statistical thermodynamics -- 8A Basic assumption and statistical entropy -- 8B Energy distribution* -- 8C More on micro- and macrostates -- Part III: The general trends and objects -- Chapter 9. Some trends in 20th century physics -- Chapter 10. From the simple equilibrium to the complex -- Chapter 11. Theoretical physics models: important analogies -- Chapter 12. The biological molecules -- 12A General properties of proteins and amino acids -- 12B Sugars -- 12C Nucleic acids -- 12D The genetic code -- 12E Energy-storing substances -- 12F Lipids: membranes -- Chapter 13. What is life? -- Part IV: Going further with thermodynamics -- Chapter 14. Thermodynamics formalism and examples: Combinatorial expressions and Stirling's formula -- 14A General formalism: energy concepts -- 14B Mixing entropy -- 14C Water: solubility.

14D Formalism of mixing and solutions* -- 14E Chemical thermodynamics* -- 14F Non-equilibrium thermodynamics* -- Chapter 15. Examples of entropy and order/disorder -- 15A Shuffling cards -- 15B The monkey library and DNA -- 15C Order and disorder -- 15D The relation to the second law -- Chapter 16. Statistical thermodynamics models -- 16A Magnetic analogies and molecule conformations -- 16B Ising-type models of 1D systems* -- 16C Renormalisation methods* -- 16D Spin glass -- Part V: Stochastic dynamics -- Chapter 17. Probability concepts -- 17A Examples -- 17B Normal distribution: approximation of binomial distribution -- Chapter 18. Stochastic processes -- 18A Introduction: general account -- 18B Terminology and formal basis -- 18C Ergodicity in biology -- Chapter 19. Random walk* -- 19A Formalism -- 19B Absorbing and reflecting boundaries -- 19C First passage time -- 19D Non-intersecting random walk -- Chapter 20. Step processes: master equations* -- 20A Poisson process -- 20B Processes with a small number of states and constant transition probabilities -- 20C Formalism: matrix method -- 20D A process with constant average and extinction possibility -- 20E Birth-death process with extinction -- 20F Reaction kinetics as step processes -- 20G Diffusion-controlled reaction as step process -- 20H Barrier passage as step process -- 201 When an average picture goes wrong: mutations and exponential growth -- Chapter 21. Brownian motion: first description* -- 21A Introduction -- 21B Formalism -- 21C Brownian motion in linear force fields: fluctuation-dissipation theorem -- Chapter 22. Diffusion and continuous stochastic processes* -- 22A Diffusion -- 22B Diffusion-controlled reactions -- 22C Gaussian processes -- 22D Fokker-Planck equations -- 22E Examples: comparisons between master equations and Fokker-Planck equations.

Chapter 23. Brownian motion and continuation* -- 23A Fokker-Planck equations for Brownian motion -- 23B Brownian motion in potentials -- 23C Brownian motion description of the passage over a potential barrier -- 23D Low-friction situation -- 23E Brownian motion description of stochastic resonance -- Part VI: Macromolecular applications -- Chapter 24. Protein folding and structure dynamics -- 24A General discussion -- 24B Protein folding as stochastic process -- 24C Stretched kinetics* -- Chapter 25. Enzyme kinetics -- 25A Enzyme actions: organisation -- 25B Formalism: basic enzyme kinetics -- 25C Allosteric action* -- Part VII: Non-linearity -- Chapter 26. What does non-linearity do? -- 26A Non-linearity in cells: oscillations, pulses and waves -- Chapter 27. Oscillations and space variation* -- 27A Electric circuit -- 27B Chemical oscillating systems -- 27C Neural signal generation -- 27D Diffusion-reaction equations and spatial structures -- 27E Non-linear waves -- Chapter 28. Deterministic chaos -- 28A General features of irregular sequences -- 28B Chaotic differential equations* -- 28C Characteristics of chaos* -- 28D Unstable orbits: control of chaos* -- Chapter 29. Noise and non-linear phenomena -- 29A General remarks -- 29B Stochastic resonance -- 29C Non-linear stochastic equations -- Part VIII: Applications -- Chapter 30. Recognition and selection in biological synthesis -- 30A Introduction: recognition -- 30B Selection in nucleic acid synthesis -- 30C Selection in protein synthesis -- 30D Formalism in non-branched processes without proofreading* -- 30E Formalism of proofreading kinetics* -- 30F Further features of selection: error propagation -- Chapter 31. Brownian ratchet: unidirectional processes -- Chapter 32. The neural system -- 32A General discussion -- 32B Spin-glass analogy -- 32C More on network features.

32D Noise in the neural system -- Chapter 33. Origin of life -- 33A Ideas about early molecular evolution -- 33B Thoughts on stability of co-operative systems -- 33C The dynamics of replicating objects in the origin of life* -- 33D Errors and mutations* -- 33E Autocatalytic growth: hypercycles* -- Part IX: Going further -- Chapter 34. Physics aspects of evolution -- Chapter 35. Determinism and randomness -- 35A General discussion -- 35B Game of life -- 35C Laplace's formula -- 35D Macroscopic world -- 35E Final words -- Chapter 36. Higher functions of life -- 36A Thinking, memory and the mind -- 36B The free will and determinism -- Chapter 37. About the direction of time -- Chapter 38. We live in the best of worlds: the anthropic principle -- References -- Index.

The purpose of the book is to give a survey of the physics that is relevant for biological applications, and also to discuss what kind of biology needs physics. The book gives a broad account of basic physics, relevant for the applications and various applications from properties of proteins to processes in the cell to wider themes such as the brain, the origin of life and evolution. It also considers general questions of common interest such as reductionism, determinism and randomness, where the physics view often is misunderstood. The subtle balance between order and disorder is a repeated theme appearing in many contexts. There are descriptive parts which shall be sufficient for the comprehension of general ideas, and more detailed, formalistic parts for those who want to go deeper, and see the ideas expressed in terms of mathematical formulas. - Describes how physics is needed for understanding basic principles of biology - Discusses the delicate balance between order and disorder in living systems - Explores how physics play a role high biological functions, such as learning and thinking.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.