Editor's Summary
29 March 2007
Keep it simple
Uri Alon's book An Introduction to Systems Biology: Design Principles of Biological Circuits, has done much to introduce systems biology to a wider audience. It's one of a clutch of systems biology texts reviewed this week. And in Connections, Alon reflects on the idea that the apparent complexity of biological systems is just that, apparent. A closer look suggests that biological net works display a degree of simplicity that is intriguing given that cells evolved to survive, and not for scientists to understand.
Books and Arts: All systems go
Three authors present very different views of the developing field of systems biology.
doi:10.1038/446493a
Essay: Simplicity in biology
Networks of interactions between thousands of molecules within cells seem to defy comprehension, but shared principles of design may simplify the picture.
Uri Alon
doi:10.1038/446497a
