PRESS RELEASE

05 September 2007

Leeds, UK

Journal explores science and humanities at the physics/biology interface

Working at the Interface: Physics meets Biology is the June 2007 special issue (volume 32, issue 2) of the journal Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, and features a selection of high level papers from the inaugural Entre-Sciences colloquium hosted by the French Fondation de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme at the National Museum of Natural History and the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris. Drawing together an audience of scholars from the human sciences and 'practitioners' working at the interface of physics and biology, the meeting prompted extensive and lively discussion.

The special issue features papers from historians and philosophers of science, physicists, biologists and anthropologists, which highlight the tumultuous relations between the physical and biological sciences. Papers include:

l 'Physics, biology and history', Michel Morange (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France)

l 'Contenders for life at the dawn of the twenty-first century: approaches from physics, biology and engineering', Evelyn Fox Keller (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) 

l 'Interdisciplinarity: some models from the human sciences', Marilyn Strathern (University of Cambridge, UK)

l 'Synchrotron radiation sources: a focal point for multidisciplinary research', Andrew W. Thompson (Synchrotron SOLEIL, France)

l 'The manipulation of single biomolecules', Jean-François Allemand1, Gilles Charvin2, Vincent Croquette1, Giuseppe Lia2 and David Bensimon1 (1Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, 2 Rockefeller University, USA, 3Harvard University, USA)

l 'Self-organisation processes in living matter', Eric Karsenti (EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany)

l 'Modelling collective phenomena in neuroscience', Jean-Pierre Nadal (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France)

In the past, physics was in the position of giving the life sciences the theoretical apparatus they lacked. At present, in contrast, physicists seem unable to answer the foundational question, 'What is life?', and some may think physics now of use to the life sciences merely as a purveyor of instrumentation. In practice, however, the situation is much more complex. 

While the historians concur in the view that physics cannot supply the theoretical tools that could explain the fundamental questions, for example how life appeared on Earth, the practitioners have a more positive vision of the relationships between their disciplines: statistical physics and the physics of dynamical systems can permit the modelling of at least some biological issues.

The guest editorial can be viewed at www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/isr. For more details on the individual papers, please see below or view the PDF on the ISR homepage at www.maney.co.uk/journals/isr 

About the Association Entre-Sciences

The prestigious Association Entre-Sciences, based in Paris, has the remit of promoting discussion on interdisciplinarity. By organising forums for researchers drawn from different disciplines within the natural sciences but working on common problems, and by enabling discussions with specialists from the human sciences, the Entre-Sciences approach is to bring together differing viewpoints, and to encourage scientists to reflect on their practice in the light of this interaction. For more information please visit www.entre-sciences.msh-paris.fr 

About Interdisciplinary Science Reviews

The journal Interdisciplinary Science Reviews aims to set contemporary and historical developments in science and technology in their wider social and cultural context. Contributions span the physical, biological, social and historical sciences, the arts and humanities. ISR transcends boundaries of subject and method to provide a truly interdisciplinary forum. For more information please visit www.maney.co.uk/journals/isr 

About Maney Publishing

Maney Publishing was founded in 1900 and has offices in the UK in Leeds and London, and in North America. With a collection of over 70 journals in materials sciences, the humanities and healthcare, Maney is committed to publishing high quality journals in print and electronic formats that are international in scope and peer-reviewed. Please visit www.maney.co.uk for more information.

For further information please contact Alison Holgate, Marketing & PR Assistant, Maney Publishing. Email: a.holgate@maney.co.uk  Tel: 0113 386 8160

ENDS