Can theoretical physics help identify guiding principles in biology?
At Lindau there was a lunch involving three physics Nobel laureates and three biology-related laureates at which we tried to see what we could learn from each other, including techniques that could be cross-applied. One participant commented that historically biologists have sought out physicists for their tools and algorithms. However, when physicists saw what biologists were doing and what they could learn, many were put off by the lack of rigor and the shallow understanding. Biological systems are so complex and so poorly observed and measured that biologists had to be satisfied by a high level and rough understanding of what they were studying, while physicists are trained for rigor and precision.
