Why Biologists and Computer Scientists Should Work Together

This is a time of increasing interdisciplinary research. Computer science is learning more from biology every day, enabling a plethora of new software techniques to flourish. And biology is now beginning to see the returns, with new models, analyses and explanations being provided by computers. The merging of computer science and biology is a hard thing to achieve. It takes a lot of effort. You have to overcome much resistance on both sides. But it’s worth it. In this paper, which accompanies the keynote presentation for Evolution Artificielle 2001, Peter J. Bentley discusses a new breed of scientist called the Digital Biologist, and why they are so important. Examples of research that benefit both fields will be provided, including swarming systems, computational development, artificial immune systems and models of ecologies. Only by working together will biology learn how nature works, and computer science develop techniques that have some of the awesome power of nature.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2001
• Where: AE
• Authors: Peter J. Bentley
• Keywords: AE 2001, Artificial Immune Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, Computer Science Develop