Interdisciplinary friction

The recent finding (1) that friction plays an important role in protein folding is interesting. It is a reminder that almost everything humans would like to solve comes down to a singular pursuit – Physics. Everything else is noise and those who learn and advance Physics will make important contributions to every contemporary scientific area including medicine, engineering and society. In the last century, scientific disciplines floated apart due to a misconceived need for specialization – some arguing that each discipline is just too complex to be tackled by generalists. Such a process has driven humanity to a standstill with no fundamental innovation forthcoming.

The solution to this stalemate is two pronged. First is the realization that Physics ultimately governs everything – anything else is noise that will take humanity to a myriad of confusing paths with no end in sight. Second, interdisciplinary research is critical – no institution should really be proud of their “focus” in one area or another. What is more important is the ability to connect things together – it does not matter if an organization is great in engineering, medicine or economics. Specialization actually slows down innovation and creativity.

Fundamental solutions to the problems at hand can only come from Physics – but it requires interdisciplinary cooperation. It also requires substantial investment in basic research and applications will follow.

In protein folding, internal friction may play a more significant role than previously thought. Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - 14:24 in Biology & Nature. Source: University of California - Santa Barbara