Imagine a vast library filled with billions of books. Each book contains a unique story that contributes to the overall narrative of life on Earth. Now, imagine trying to read and interpret all these books in a lifetime. This is the daunting task that computational biologists face in the era of big data. However, with the help of computer science and mathematics, they are making significant strides in understanding the complexities of biological systems. Computational biology is an interdisciplinary field that has emerged due to the explosion of data in the life sciences. Computational biology combines biology, computer science, and [...]

Imagine that you and your friend want to start a poultry farm to produce eggs. If possible, one excellent way to reduce the cost is by removing all the features that are not necessary for laying eggs - feathers, legs, eyes, and other sensory perceptions - from the chick. It is as if it were born anew only to lay eggs and nothing else! This is the concept echoed in synthetic biology, to engineer unicellular organisms doing only intended tasks and nothing else. Synthetic biology, sometimes called "Nature 2.0," is an emerging field in life science with enormous potential to [...]

Don’t you remember, as a child, holding a lizard in your clenched hand, only to find its wriggling tail when you opened it? Although it is a traumatic experience for the creature, it is thrilling to the mischievous, inquisitive young mind. A few days later, in your backyard, to your amazement, you might have observed the same lizard with a small growth from its broken tail! Some lizards and other animals can lose their tails or arms, but quickly grow new ones. You might wonder why it did not happen to other animals. You might also ask, why humans aren't [...]