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Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 571.77 EAN: 9780387989921 Edition: 2nd ISBN: 0387989927 Label: Springer Manufacturer: Springer Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 808 Publication Date: June 08, 2001 Publisher: Springer Studio: Springer Accessories:
Editorial Review: Product Description: From cell division to heartbeat, clocklike rhythms pervade the activities of every living organism. The cycles of life are ultimately biochemical in mechanism but many of the principles that dominate their orchestration are essentially mathematical. The Geometry of Biological Time describes periodic processes in living systems and their non-living analogues in the abstract terms of nonlinear dynamics. Enphasis is given in phase singularities, waves, and mutual synchronization in tissues composed of many clocklike units. Also provided are descriptions of the best-studied experimental systems such as chemical oscillators, pacemaker neurons, circadian clocks, and excitable media organized into biochemical and bioelectrical wave patterns in two and three dimensions. No theoretical background is assumed; the required notions are introduced through an extensive collection of pictures and easily understood examples. This extensively updated new edition incorporates the fruits of two decades' further exploration guided by the same principles. Limit cycle theories of circadian clocks are now applied to human jet lag and are understood in terms of the molecular genetics of their recently discovered mechanisms. Supercomputers reveal the unforeseen architecture and dynamics of three-dimensional scroll waves in excitable media. Their role in life-threatening electrical aberrations of the heartbeat is exposed by laboratory experiments and corroborated in the clinic. These developments trace back to three basic mathematical ideas. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A classicThis book gets better and better with time. The more I know about the topics covered in this book, the more I realize how important the book is and how much is to be learned from it. For those not familiar with Art Winfree, he was a pioneer in the mathematical and experimental investigation of the temporal and spatial aspects of biological phenomena. I don't know that I would agree with the reviewer who states that the book "transgresses" scientific boundaries. Perhaps a few decades ... Read More Rating:  - Completely Interdisciplinary ScienceThis 2nd edition of a 1980 book is about 50% enlarged. Its readers today will probably be scientists two generations removed from those familiar with the first printing but this review stresses only the new stuff. The book has two main parts: a first half containing ten chapters mostly about principles and theory, and a second half containing thirteen more about specific experimental systems. It seems curiously hard to decide whether the subject matter is narrow to the point of caricaturing ... Read More |
