Why is Studying Biology So Difficult Compared to Physics?

[kraphysics]

I love Physics. There's only a few things you need to memorize and everything else is just logical and understanding. Biology is way too much memorization. I have a Bio exam tomorrow and trying to memorize everything on the nervous system but I just can't pay attention. It is mind numbing. I want to like Bio though. I like Evolution and whatnot but this stuff seems really dull. Honestly, how does anyone else find Bio interesting or atleast manage to study it without falling asleep?

I'm not trying to insult Bio people. I'm just curious. Btw I'm in grade 12.

 

[Pythagorean]

I got my baccalaureate in physics, and now I've become fascinated with biology. But I don't really memorize stuff like protein names, I just try to learn about the physics of biology and that stuff eventually comes up enough times.

 

[lompocus]

Hey, pythagorean, to someone who's really interested in physics/engineering (me), what would you say about a bioengineering-related major in college? I have a passing interest in biology, but that's just because my exposure to the subject has been limited (and, of course, this leads to my lack of interest in the area at the moment...).

Hmm, this simplifies my rambling: When I (very soon) start the whole college thing, I want to explore biology (mainly bioengineering, with the reason originating from the pretty much empty void that is my knowledge in the area). Any advice on that for someone that will otherwise follow something leading to mech/aerospace engineering?

 

[HeLiXe]

I love Physics. There's only a few things you need to memorize and everything else is just logical and understanding. Biology is way too much memorization. I have a Bio exam tomorrow and trying to memorize everything on the nervous system but I just can't pay attention. It is mind numbing. I want to like Bio though. I like Evolution and whatnot but this stuff seems really dull. Honestly, how does anyone else find Bio interesting or atleast manage to study it without falling asleep?

I'm not trying to insult Bio people. I'm just curious. Btw I'm in grade 12.

OMG tell me about it! I had Biology last semester and I really wanted to study and love it, but I kept waking up in the book and did not even remember falling asleep. The only thing that helped me was the resources that came with the book. There was a link to the entire book online...which for some reason helped to keep me awake. There were also computerized labs, lectures, and animations of biological processes like the citric acid cycle, respiration, metabolism, the making of ATP etc. I guess you have to find ways to make it come alive (no pun intended).

 

[Pythagorean]

Hey, pythagorean, to someone who's really interested in physics/engineering (me), what would you say about a bioengineering-related major in college? I have a passing interest in biology, but that's just because my exposure to the subject has been limited (and, of course, this leads to my lack of interest in the area at the moment...).

Hmm, this simplifies my rambling: When I (very soon) start the whole college thing, I want to explore biology (mainly bioengineering, with the reason originating from the pretty much empty void that is my knowledge in the area). Any advice on that for someone that will otherwise follow something leading to mech/aerospace engineering?

I can't really comment on the engineering side, but a mathematical approach that is applicable to both aerodynamics and proteomics/genomics is nonlinear and/or complex dynamical systems. There's a system of differential equations for the cell cycle, even, and analyzing such systems with the geometrical approach can be insightful.

http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v2/n12/abs/nrm1201-908a.html
(cited by 326)

 

[ideasrule]

I love Physics. There's only a few things you need to memorize and everything else is just logical and understanding. Biology is way too much memorization. I have a Bio exam tomorrow and trying to memorize everything on the nervous system but I just can't pay attention. It is mind numbing. I want to like Bio though. I like Evolution and whatnot but this stuff seems really dull. Honestly, how does anyone else find Bio interesting or atleast manage to study it without falling asleep?

I'm not trying to insult Bio people. I'm just curious. Btw I'm in grade 12.

I find biology interesting because there's so much left to discover about even the simplest, most well-understood processes. Pick anything in your textbook--anything at all--and ask "how does this work?" Chances are, it's not well-understood, and even the best theoretical models can't simulate it.

I agree with you, though, since I absolutely hate memorizing the overwhelming flood of information in every biology class. It's the same story with most humanities classes--I think philosophy/history/archeology is interesting, but memorizing a truckload of facts is not.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Each to there own, I got my BSc in Biology and an MSc in Nanotechnology and Regenerative Medicine.

There is a lot of memorisation in Biology but like anything once you've studied it enough you develop ways of thinking about it that make it easier. Most of the time in biochemistry/cell biology we are concerned with transcription pathways that resemble some horrible chemical flow chart, at first it's daunting but eventually it becomes simpler.

Personally I love biology for its complexity, there's nothing simple about how a cell works. Tens of thousands of different chemicals interacting in ways which work to create a viable organism, what's not to love!

 

[flyingpig]

CHemistry is even more boring lol

 

[micromass]

I find biology extremely interesting! In fact, if I didn't do math, then I would have gone for biology or bio-engineering. I love to see how the nervous system works and how the brain processes this huge amount of information.

Sadly, there is a lot of memorization to do. If they could eliminate that, I'd do biology in a heartbeat...

 

[jhae2.718]

Sadly, there is a lot of memorization to do. If they could eliminate that, I'd do biology in a heartbeat...

All you need to catch up is a map of the cat.

 

[lisab]

All you need to catch up is a map of the cat.

Nice RF reference

 

[HeLiXe]

CHemistry is even more boring lol

Blasphemy!

 

[elfboy]

boring and low paying compared to other scientific fields

 

[jhae2.718]

Nice RF reference

You get 0+1i cookies for being awesome enough to catch that.

 

[Proton Soup]

biology becomes more interesting as you become less invincible.

 

[nucleargirl]

yeah I agree with Helixe that the cycles and biochem stuff and protein names is super boring - what's the point of remembering them when if you need them you can find it on a textbook?

but if you look at the theories and how things work, then it is fascinating! it is amazing just to think of life itself - how on Earth are there living things at all! it is so random to have! isn't it a wonder that there are animals? living things running about which are just made of the same molecules that make a rock or soil or anyting else? how the hell does that happen? and not to mention how beautiful it all is - look at the life around you, they are beautiful! like birds, flowers, bumblebees... and to think all this kind of happened randomly? and all the complex processes that allow life to happen, they are so intricate and clever! an living body is like the cleverist most wonderful awesome machine ever ever ever! that is worth studying just because it is so cool!

 

[epenguin]

Molecular biology, if not exactly predictable from first principles, makes a lot of sense with just enough surprise sometimes.

Metabolism I found a bore, but it would be improved if it got treated more than it usually does in terms of chemical reactivity principles, pending its more complete elucidation by how it has evolved which we don't well know yet.

 

[Pythagorean]

The idea that a particular set of molecules is able to self organize in Earth-like conditions (Miller-Urey) is fascinating enough.

Even more fascinating (and yet undiscovered) is how replicating molecules like RNA/DNA arose from this self-organization: abiogenesis.

 

[HeLiXe]

biology becomes more interesting as you become less invincible.

yeah I agree with Helixe that the cycles and biochem stuff and protein names is super boring - what's the point of remembering them when if you need them you can find it on a textbook?

Well it could be interesting, I was happy to learn it...but GEEEZ do they drag it out man:zzz:. I think the authors of the text were very enthusiastic, and maybe that's what killed it for me lol

The idea that a particular set of molecules is able to self organize in Earth-like conditions (Miller-Urey) is fascinating enough.

Even more fascinating (and yet undiscovered) is how replicating molecules like RNA/DNA arose from this self-organization: abiogenesis.

^^Now this! Is what fascinates me and keeps my attention. I went through the RNA/DNA and genetic engineering/ biotech sections with ease. Although molecules, etc, were explained in detail, we did not really explore any theories of abiogenesis in biology. Abiogenesis really fascinates me. We covered this a little in geology (as it relates to ocean floor vents), but I think it would have been great to explore in biology.

Here's one of the articles we read in geology: http://www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc99/1_9_99/bob1.htm

 

[Pythagorean]

some recent biological steps towards understanding abiogenesis:

Ribozyme-Catalyzed Transcription of an Active Ribozyme
Aniela Wochner, James Attwater, Alan Coulson, and Philipp Holliger
Science 8 April 2011:
Vol. 332 no. 6026 pp. 209-212
DOI: 10.1126/science.1200752

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6026/209.short

 

[Geezer]

I love Physics. There's only a few things you need to memorize and everything else is just logical and understanding. Biology is way too much memorization.

I hate bio, too. It just doesn't interest me at all. Never has, never will.

 

[mezzoforte]

I love Physics. There's only a few things you need to memorize and everything else is just logical and understanding. Biology is way too much memorization. I have a Bio exam tomorrow and trying to memorize everything on the nervous system but I just can't pay attention. It is mind numbing. I want to like Bio though. I like Evolution and whatnot but this stuff seems really dull. Honestly, how does anyone else find Bio interesting or atleast manage to study it without falling asleep?

I'm not trying to insult Bio people. I'm just curious. Btw I'm in grade 12.

I completely agree.