Terms physicists and biologists use differently

[Ryan_m_b]

I'm giving a presentation to a group next week made up of mathematicians, physicists and mechanical engineers. My talk is going to be related to my work so it's going to be very biology based. I want to start the talk pointing out that life science and the physical sciences are very different in their cultures and I thought it would be fun to have a slide with terms both use but completely differently. The point of this is to lead on to saying that if at any point I'm using a term that you know but don't see how it fits then feel free to ask.

Examples I have so far are vector, plasma and differentiate, can anyone think of any others?

 

[Cthugha]

How about translation?

 

[Nugatory]

Evolution (of a physical system versus a species); decay; selection

 

[Ryan_m_b]

How about translation?

That's a good one, thanks

Evolution (of a physical system versus a species); decay; selection

Maybe, I'm leaning more towards ones that won't be obvious or well known if possible. The vector example I got from a lecture recently in which a class of mechanical engineering students hadn't heard of a disease vector before.

 

[Pythagorean]

free energy

edit: that was a joke, referencing pseudo-science, but I immediately realized that physicists also use free energy in thermodynamics.

 

[Pythagorean]

nucleus
cell
filament
plasma
conjugate
bifurcation
degeneracy
corona

 

[arildno]

Is "perturbation" used in life sciences in some technical sense?? If it is, I'm sure it means something else than within physics/maths.

As a general strategy here,I would suggest that you should look at semi-colloquial Greek/Latin loan words that are used in a technical sense, and compare actual technical usages to discover subtle differences in implied meaning.

 

[AlephZero]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_(disambiguation)

 

[Enigman]

flux: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flux_(disambiguation)
fusion/fission?
[STRIKE]plasma[/STRIKE]*
vertex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertex
[STRIKE]vector[/STRIKE]*
proteus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteus_(disambiguation)
torus
panda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PANDA_experiment
matrix
anything else I missed:
https://www.google.com/search?q=dis...iology&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&start=0
ed-
radiation (evolutionary)
parabola http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabola_(disambiguation)
*finally decided to really read the op...

 

[jesse73]

gaussian and normal

 

[berkeman]

Real
Imaginary
Complex
Manifold (this one has the nice property of being different for mathmatics, ME, and general use)

 

[arildno]

Perturbation: "In physical therapy, an external force applied to a person's center of mass in an attempt to move it from the base of support "
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Perturbations

 

[Ygggdrasil]

These probably apply more to chemistry than biology, but: solution, precipitate, reduction.

Also, statistical significance.

 

[Dembadon]

"Proof"

 

[kith]

Population

 

[DrGreg]

The vector example I got from a lecture recently in which a class of mechanical engineering students hadn't heard of a disease vector before.

That reminds me of a joke I saw recently:

Q. What do you get when you cross a mountain-climber with a mosquito?

A. Nothing: you can't cross a scalar with a vector.​

I had to look up the biological meaning of "vector" before I understood the joke.

 

[berkeman]

That reminds me of a joke I saw recently:

Q. What do you get when you cross a mountain-climber with a mosquito?

A. Nothing: you can't cross a scalar with a vector.​

I had to look up the biological meaning of "vector" before I understood the joke.

Okay, that has *got* to be Ryan's first slide! Too funny!

 

[Fredrik]

"Theory".

(I don't think there are any universally accepted definitions, but...)

Physics: A piece of mathematics and some correspondence rules that tell us how interpret mathematical results as predictions about results of experiments. (Short version: "Something that makes predictions about results of experiments"). If the predictions are bad, then it's a bad theory, but it's still a theory. If the predictions are very accurate, then it's considered a good theory even if we're not sure that it really explains anything.

In other sciences: Something that explains a fact. (People often say that it's in this sense that the theory of evolution is a theory).

Outside of science:
1. A statement that's believed to be true.
2. A guess.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

These are all great everyone thanks! I probably won't need any more but feel free to keep them coming for interests sake.

That reminds me of a joke I saw recently:

Q. What do you get when you cross a mountain-climber with a mosquito?

A. Nothing: you can't cross a scalar with a vector.​

I had to look up the biological meaning of "vector" before I understood the joke.

Haha I am definitely stealing this for once I've explained vector!

 

[lisab]

Date.

Biologist: Phoenix dactylifera
Physicist: time stated in terms of the day, month, and year
General public: a romantic rendezvous

 

[drizzle]

Does that mean I'm unknowingly a biologist?

 

[Curious3141]

I'm giving a presentation to a group next week made up of mathematicians, physicists and mechanical engineers. My talk is going to be related to my work so it's going to be very biology based. I want to start the talk pointing out that life science and the physical sciences are very different in their cultures and I thought it would be fun to have a slide with terms both use but completely differently. The point of this is to lead on to saying that if at any point I'm using a term that you know but don't see how it fits then feel free to ask.

Examples I have so far are vector, plasma and differentiate, can anyone think of any others?

Membrane: in biology, almost always refers to cell or organelle membrane, whereas in Physics, the use is broader. In String Theory, "membrane" (or "brane") may have another arcane definition.

Kinetics: In biology, may refer to enzyme kinetics or sometimes "time-kill kinetics" in microbiology. In Physics, used as a singular form to refer to something related to motion.

Weight: Almost always used as a surrogate for mass in Biology. In Physics, has a very specific meaning relating to the gravitational force on a mass.

Matrix: Used to denote the surrounding substance that envelops something else which can be a cell or an analyte (e.g. extracellular matrix, or specimen matrix). In maths and physics, matrix has a whole other meaning.

Genus: You know the taxonomic use of the term. It's used differently in topology (which I think also has applications in physics).

Differentiate: In biology, used to speak of the specialisation of cells. Different from the mathematical meaning. Of course, there can be quite a lot of calculus in biology, as well.