The concept of biological computation proposes that living
organisms
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; ...
perform computations, and that as such, abstract ideas of
information
Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
and
computation
Computation is any type of arithmetic or non-arithmetic calculation that follows a well-defined model (e.g., an algorithm).
Mechanical or electronic devices (or, historically, people) that perform computations are known as ''computers''. An es ...
may be key to understanding biology. As a field, biological computation can include the study of the
systems biology
Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological syst ...
computations performed by
biota the design of
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...
s inspired by the computational methods of biota, the
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...
and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
of manufactured computational devices using
synthetic biology
Synthetic biology (SynBio) is a multidisciplinary area of research that seeks to create new biological parts, devices, and systems, or to redesign systems that are already found in nature.
It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad ran ...
components
and computer methods for the analysis of biological data, elsewhere called
computational biology
Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fo ...
or
bioinformatics
Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data, in particular when the data sets are large and complex. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combi ...
.
According to Dominique Chu, Mikhail Prokopenko, and J. Christian J. Ray, "the most important class of
natural computers can be found in
biological systems that perform computation on multiple levels. From molecular and cellular
information processing
Information processing is the change (processing) of information in any manner detectable by an observer. As such, it is a process that ''describes'' everything that happens (changes) in the universe, from the falling of a rock (a change in posit ...
networks to
ecologies, economies and brains, life computes. Despite ubiquitous agreement on this fact going back as far as
von Neumann automata and
McCulloch–Pitts neural nets, we so far lack principles to understand rigorously how computation is done in living, or active, matter".
Logical circuits can be built with
slime moulds
Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to several kinds of unrelated eukaryotic organisms with a life cycle that includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic mu ...
.
Distributed systems
A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...
experiments have used them to approximate motorway graphs. The slime mould ''
Physarum polycephalum
''Physarum polycephalum'', an acellular slime mold or myxomycete popularly known as "the blob", is a protist with diverse cellular forms and broad geographic distribution. The “acellular” moniker derives from the plasmodial stage of the li ...
'' is able to compute high-quality approximate solutions to the
Traveling Salesman Problem
The travelling salesman problem (also called the travelling salesperson problem or TSP) asks the following question: "Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair of cities, what is the shortest possible route that visits each cit ...
, a combinatorial test with exponentially increasing complexity, in
linear time
In computer science, the time complexity is the computational complexity that describes the amount of computer time it takes to run an algorithm. Time complexity is commonly estimated by counting the number of elementary operations performed by ...
. Fungi such as
''basidiomycetes'' can also be used to build logical circuits. In a proposed fungal computer, information is represented by spikes of electrical activity, a computation is implemented in a
mycelium
Mycelium (plural mycelia) is a root-like structure of a fungus consisting of a mass of branching, thread-like hyphae. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other substrate (biology), substrates. A typical single ...
network, and an
interface
Interface or interfacing may refer to:
Academic journals
* ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society
* '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics''
* '' Int ...
is realized via fruit bodies.
See also
*
Wetware
*
Biological neural network
A neural circuit is a population of neurons interconnected by synapses to carry out a specific function when activated. Neural circuits interconnect to one another to form large scale brain networks.
Biological neural networks have inspired the ...
*
Artificial neuron
An artificial neuron is a mathematical function conceived as a model of biological neurons, a neural network. Artificial neurons are elementary units in an artificial neural network. The artificial neuron receives one or more inputs (representing e ...
*
Biological computing
Biological computers use biologically derived molecules — such as DNA and/or proteins — to perform digital or real computations.
The development of biocomputers has been made possible by the expanding new science of nanobiotechnology. The ter ...
*
Zero player game
A zero-player game or no-player game is a simulation game that has no sentient players.
Types
There are various different types of games that can be considered "zero-player".
Determined by initial state
A game that evolves as determined by i ...
References
Computational biology
Computational fields of study
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