Season Opener: Is Biology Having Its Newtonian Moment? with Rob Phillips, Caltech

Welcome to Mendelspod’s 16th season!It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this for just over 15 years, following first and foremost the people reshaping biology and medicine. But also the technologies and ideas. Our original vision was to feature the “people behind the headlines” and you’ll see that what we continue to do in this first show of the new season. A sincere thank you to everyone who has listened, watched, subscribed, sponsored, recommended guests, shared a show, told your friends, and simply kept coming back. We have a terrific season ahead, with some of the biggest names in the life sciences as well as some you may not know yet who are asking entirely new questions.To begin, we wanted to go big picture.Rob Phillips, professor of biophysics, biology, and physics at Caltech and co-author of Physical Biology of the Cell, thinks this could be the “Newtonian moment” for biology. We have extraordinary amounts of data. What biology needs now, he argues, are concepts that can organize those observations into a more predictive understanding of life.“The data in biology is getting to the point where we have no excuse,” Rob says.The conversation ranges from the limits of molecular reductionism to the meaning of prediction, the role of AI, and why better measurement still matters enormously. Phillips makes the case for explanations at many different scales. Understanding a wildebeest migration through molecules, he says, would be like explaining the Golden Gate Bridge through its iron atoms.Rob is nothing if not provocative—in the best sense. His style is to pile up ideas and questions one on the other to propel his listeners into that creative space of wonder. “We need more opinions. We need more authenticity,” Phillips says. “I want to hear how people think about things differently.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.mendelspod.com/subscribe