Computers learn to turn biological processes into equations

Computers learn to turn biological processes into equations. First it was chess. Then it was Jeopardy. Now computers are at it again, but this time they are trying to automate the scientific process itself. Using a Cornell-developed software called Eureqa, an interdisciplinary team of scientists that includes Cornell's Hod Lipson has demonstrated that a computer can analyze raw experimental data from a biological system and derive the mathematical equations that describe how the system operates. It is one of the most complex scientific modeling problems that a computer has solved completely from scratch, say the researchers. "Biology is the area where the gap between theory and data is growing most rapidly," said Lipson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and of computing and information science.