Petri dish with the bacteria E. coli forming patterns induced by the new synthetic system. Credit: Ricard Solé. Read Time:
Richard Feynman, one of the most respected physicists of the twentieth century, said What I cannot create, I do not understand . Not surprisingly, many physicists and mathematicians have observed fundamental biological processes with the aim of precisely identifying the minimum ingredients that could generate them. One such example are the patterns of nature observed by Alan Turing. The brilliant English mathematician demonstrated in 1952 that it was possible to explain how a completely homogeneous tissue could be used to create a complex embryo, and he did so using one of the simplest, most elegant mathematical models ever written. One of the results of such models is that the symmetry shown by a cell or a tissue can break under a set of conditions. However, Turing was not able to test his ideas, and it took over 70 years before a breakthrough in bio
Richard Feynman, one of the most respected physicists of the twentieth century, said "What I cannot create, I do not understand". Not surprisingly, many physicists and mathematicians have observed fundamental biological processes with the aim of precisely identifying the minimum ingredients that could generate them. One such example are the patterns of nature observed by Alan Turing.
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This past week, the Harvard community witnessed the rightful cancelation of Kevin K. âKitâ Parkerâs course, Engineering Sciences 298R: âData Fusion in Complex Systems: A Case Study.â The course planned to have undergraduates examine the âefficacyâ of policing criminal activity in Springfield, Mass. using a policing tactic modeled after how troops in America s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan conducted counterinsurgency.
Examining Springfieldâs Counter Criminal Continuum Policing program â C3 for short â has become something of a pet project for Parker, a bioengineering professor. A personal connection helps explain why.
Credit: Salva Duran
Richard Feynman, one of the most respected physicists of the twentieth century, said What I cannot create, I do not understand . Not surprisingly, many physicists and mathematicians have observed fundamental biological processes with the aim of precisely identifying the minimum ingredients that could generate them. One such example are the patterns of nature observed by Alan Turing. The brilliant English mathematician demonstrated in 1952 that it was possible to explain how a completely homogeneous tissue could be used to create a complex embryo, and he did so using one of the simplest, most elegant mathematical models ever written. One of the results of such models is that the symmetry shown by a cell or a tissue can break under a set of conditions. However, Turing was not able to test his ideas, and it took over 70 years before a breakthrough in biology technique was able to evaluate them decisively. Can Turing s dream be made a reality through Feynman s pro
In an email to
Teen Vogue, Paul Karoff, associate dean for communications and strategic priorities at Harvard, said, “Professor Parker elected not to offer the course this spring.”
In 2012, Parker led Harvard engineering students in collecting this C3 data in a program in collaboration with the Springfield Police Department, though Harvard confirmed that the 2021 course was not funded by any outside donations. Part of the 2012 research program asked Harvard students to help Springfield police anticipate crime and identify gang members by using Google Maps to compile street-level data, and by plotting and photo-documenting neighborhoods in relation to public data such as statistics for crime or public health. As part of his 2021 course, Parker, a colonel in the United States Army Reserve who served in Afghanistan, asked his students to analyze this nearly 10 years’ worth of police data collected on the Springfield community. According to documents obtained by