The Physics Of Living Processes

Download or read book The Physics of Living Processes written by Thomas Andrew Waigh and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-08-08 with total page 624 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This full-colour undergraduate textbook, based on a two semestercourse, presents the fundamentals of biological physics,introducing essential modern topics that include cells, polymers,polyelectrolytes, membranes, liquid crystals, phase transitions,self-assembly, photonics, fluid mechanics, motility, chemicalkinetics, enzyme kinetics, systems biology, nerves, physiology, thesenses, and the brain. The comprehensive coverage, featuring in-depth explanations ofrecent rapid developments, demonstrates this to be one of the mostdiverse of modern scientific disciplines. The Physics of Living Processes: A Mesoscopic Approach iscomprised of five principal sections: • Building Blocks • Soft Condensed Matter Techniques in Biology • Experimental Techniques • Systems Biology • Spikes, Brains and the Senses The unique focus is predominantly on the mesoscale —structures on length scales between those of atoms and themacroscopic behaviour of whole organisms. The connections betweenmolecules and their emergent biological phenomena provide a novelintegrated perspective on biological physics, making this animportant text across a variety of scientific disciplines includingbiophysics, physics, physical chemistry, chemical engineering andbioengineering. An extensive set of worked tutorial questions are included,which will equip the reader with a range of new physical tools toapproach problems in the life sciences from medicine,pharmaceutical science and agriculture.