Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

The art of mechanistic modeling in biology

Nature Computational Science volume 2, pages 72–73 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

A combination of experimental evaluation with computational modeling sheds light on how aging and limited lifespan influence population dynamics.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: An individual-based model for understanding the dynamics of aging in populations.

References

  1. Turing, A. M. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B. 237, 37–72 (1952).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Shea, M. A. & Ackers, G. K. J. Mol. Biol. 181, 211–230 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Gierer, A. & Meinhardt, H. Kybernetik 12, 30–39 (1972).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Scharf, A. et al. Nat. Comput. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-022-00190-8 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Radchuk, V., Kramer-Schadt, S. & Grimm, V. Trends Ecol. Evol. 34, 487–488 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Medawar, P. B. An Unsolved Problem of Biology (H. K. Lewis, 1952).

  7. Wood, W. B. The Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1988).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, Department for Integrative Evolutionary Biology, Tübingen, Germany

    Ata Kalirad & Ralf J. Sommer

Authors
  1. Ata Kalirad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ralf J. Sommer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ralf J. Sommer.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kalirad, A., Sommer, R.J. The art of mechanistic modeling in biology. Nat Comput Sci 2, 72–73 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-021-00187-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43588-021-00187-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing