Bionumbers
http://www.bionumbers.org This
website is a database of useful biological numbers (with references!).
It will help you find both key numbers characterizing
biological systems as well as the experimental sources for those
numbers. This complements the approach we will often take of
trying to determine those numbers by thinking them up.
Helpful sources for additional background on:
(Caltech library has all of these)
Biology: Molecular
Biology of the Cell
This website contains a searchable online version of "the" biology
textbook, by Alberts et al.
Math: Mathematical Methods in the Physical
Sciences, by
Mary Boas.
Quantum mechanics: Introduction to Quantum
Mechanics, by
David J. Griffiths; Quantum Physics by
Stephen Gasiorowicz.
Other fun/useful books:
Guesstimation:
Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin,
by Laurence Weinstein and John A. Adam.
This book contains a number of fun and interesting estimates and puts
forth the geometric mean rule for making estimates
mentioned in class.
Physics
for Future Presidents, by Richard Muller.
This book is based on the most popular course at UC Berkeley.
Breakthrough
of the Year: Reprogramming Cells Gretchen Vogel; Science
19 December 2008: 1766-1767.
Summary: By inserting genes that turn back a cell's developmental
clock, researchers are gaining insights into disease and the biology of
how a cell decides its fate. This article announces the "breakthrough of the year" for
2008 and describes the recent successes with reprogramming cells, a
topic we will explore from the theoretical point of view in the course.
