Physics World magazine: July 2009 special issue

Download a sample copy of a special issue of Physics World magazine that looks at how physics is changing biology. The issue marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species. Read about the importance of quantum mechanics to life, the physics of the cell, how physicists are helping to understand the brain, and how Darwin “set the standard” for what any explanation of nature should be like. We examine the barriers that physicists and biologists face in working together, and reveal how one physicist made the move from string theory to cells. Plus, four iconic full-page images mark each of the Nobel prizes in physiology or medicine won or shared by physicists.