The evolution of biology

Abstract

One of the most interesting recent trends in the biosciences has been the development of research methods that do not adhere to familiar standards of scientific practice. The traditional aim of scientific research—most notably in physics—has been to gain a comprehensive understanding of natural phenomena and to generate hypotheses that provide simple, law‐like and broad explanations. Contemporary research in bioinformatics is markedly different: bioinformaticians are increasingly generating tools to make accurate predictions for a restricted range of phenomena, irrespective of their simplicity or broader application in science. The new developments within the biological sciences are also hard to square with traditional a priori theories—inductivism, falsificationism or inference to the best explanation—that serve to articulate the standards of proper scientific methodology. This shift towards the engineering of prediction‐generating tools—and away from traditional research practice and the creation of cognitively accessible explanations—shows that we need to rethink what embodies respectable scientific practice. The ideas of simplicity, law‐likeness and an ability to understand what it is that makes nature ‘work’, are widely conceived—both within and outside science—not merely as a desirable product of scientific investigation, but more so as the characteristics of science that distinguish it from fields such as theology or literature. In fact, the implied or explicit promise of fully understanding natural phenomena is not only a standard component of most research projects, but also a major selling point of research that attracts funding. Consequently, there is a widespread and continuing expectation that the biological sciences could and should provide theoretical insight into the workings of biological phenomena, despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary. This attitude is arguably sustained, at least in part, by the successful elucidation of the structure of DNA by Francis Crick (1916–2004) and James Watson. Their discovery, which came at an early stage in …