Hello World of Modern Biology
Most of you will be familiar with the “Hello World” program which is very first and simplest possible program in any computer language. Traditionally “Hello World” application consists of few lines of code which prints out “Hello World” on a display device. Basic idea is to give a simple introduction to novice user, however the way people write “Hello World” varies depending on their age and job. The other day I was thinking what will be the “Hello World” equivalent for the modern biology. Everyone will agree with fact that even small child can grasp the concept of “Hello World” program without much trouble, so what will be simplest modern biology concept which can be apprehended by any beginner? Without any reservations central dogma of molecular biology will qualify as “Hello World” of molecular biology and to some extent for genetics also, but that does not represent whole modern biology. According to Wikipedia modern biology is constituted of five unifying principles: cell theory, evolution, gene theory, energy, and homeostasis.
Photo by laimagendelmundoOmne vivum ex ovo
“Omne vivum ex ovo” is Latin proverb for “Every living thing comes from an egg”, which means life can’t come from anywhere except other life. This is foundational and simplest concept of modern biology, even a baby can understand and sense it and that’s how we are confronted with questions like Mom, where did I come from?. Till early of the 19th century many people believed in “spontaneous generation”, which means that life forms can appear spontaneously under certain conditions. William Harvey was very first person who challenged this misconception. According to AudioLatinProverbs.com
The belief that omne vivum ex ovo is most closely associated with William Harvey, the 17th-century English doctor who explained the circulation of blood in the body. As he argued, omnia omnino animalia, etiam vivipara, atque hominem adeo ipsum, ex ovo progigni, “absolutely all animals, including those who give birth to live young, and even man himself, are born from an egg.” This is a very striking contention to make in the 17th century, given that the actual mammalian egg was not found until 1827!
It was Louis Pasteur who successfully demonstrated that life does not arise due to spontaneous generation but rather to Omne vivum ex ovo (or biogenesis). According to Onpedia
When the concept is taken to the extreme, it would imply that there was never a time without life. However, with a modern understanding, it means that all life can be traced back to the first cell. The concept says nothing of the first emergence of life, or the first cell, which may have been made from self-replicating molecules and a phospholipid bi-layer.
If I am not wrong then Omne vivum ex ovo will certainly scale up as “Hello World” concept of modern biology, I am inviting readers to comment why it should not and what can be a better concept for “Hello word” in modern biology. Why this is so important? Let us assume one day you decided to develop a new programming paradigm which can instantiate and simulate the concepts of modern biology in computers, or allows creation of the behaviors of modern biology inside the computer. What will be the “Hello World” output from such a programming paradigm and how it will be conceptualize? Taking example of human life when a baby comes out of the womb the first thing to do is crying, that is “Hello Word” of new born baby. Depending on scale and complexity of species the output from the “Hello Word” concept will be different (very much like “Hello World” variation depending on programmers age and job) so the specification for the “Hello World” concept. For unicellular organisms the outcome will depend on cellular level mechanisms while for animals on multi-level interactions which in turn depends on simple mechanisms at the lower levels (cell and tissue) resulting complex results on a higher level.
Notes: For interested readers Steven Levy’s book “Artificial Life – A report from the frontier where computers meet biology” provides a interesting introduction.
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7 Responses to “Hello World of Modern Biology”
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Hello World of Modern Biology: Most of you will be familiar with the “Hello World” program which is very first a.. http://tinyurl.com/bgoaqr
Interesting read. Although I wonder about this sentence – “Till early of the 19th century many people believed in “spontaneous generation”, which means that life forms can appear spontaneously under certain conditions.” Are you referring to scientists or all people? I’m not disagreeing with you just curious as it seems like a lot of people still believe in spontaneous generation.
Well I guess I was referring to scientific community
Yeah, rather sad it isn’t everybody. *shrug* Just curious as to your thinking. Thanks for answering.
Normal people don’t live with contradictions as scientific community does most of time
What do you mean?
contradiction about believing in something and not be able to prove that scientifically