What an honour to have one of my favourite historians of biology, Laurent Loison, review my book for History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. He does an amazing job summarizing the main scholarly contributions of the book. I particularly appreciated his reflection at the very end. Read it here

A very nice surprise awaited me in the mailbox this morning: this gem by @alejandrofabregastejeda.com. It’s a pleasure to see work like this come to fruition—elegant, insightful, and evidently the result of a tremendous amount of work. Looking forward to reading it closely. Congratulations again!

It was a pleasure to talk to Phil for an hour and a half about the conceptual foundations of the life sciences as part of his New Biology project. It's an exciting time to be a philosopher of biology! #hpbio #philsci #philsky

Philip Ball@philipcball.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I had a great talk with philosopher of biology Dan Nicholson, for the New Biology project with Marginalia Review of Books, about going beyond the machine metaphor in biology. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ds0...

This semester, we will be reading selected chapters from "Everything flows", edited by @djnicholson.bsky.social and John Dupré in our Reading Group. All interested are welcome to join us at @ruhr-uni-bochum.de (room NDEF04/346). If needed, we can also arrange hybrid meetings. #HPBio #PhDSky

Here's another deep dive on 'What Is Life? Revisited' for Friction Philosophy. Surely there's nothing more to be said about Schrödinger's famous book? Think again! Join us as we travel from quantum mechanics to genetics & molecular biology via statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, & cybernetics

142. Dan Nicholson | What is Life?

YouTube video by Friction

youtube.com

This short book by @djnicholson.bsky.social is extraordinarily good for understanding not just the genesis, message and myths of Schrödinger's book but also why molecular biology developed in the way it did (and what's problematic about that). www.cambridge.org/core/element...

What Is Life? Revisited

Cambridge Core - Philosophy of Science - What Is Life? Revisited

cambridge.org

I had SO much fun talking to Paul for almost 2 hours about my new book on Schrödinger & molecular biology. Easily one of the most enjoyable podcasts I've ever done. Check it out! P.S. CUP has made the PDF of my book free to download for 2 more weeks. Get it here: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Paul Middlebrooks@braininspired.bsky.social · 9mo ago

What Is Life? A misleading title for Schrödinger's book. What is Life? Revisited. A spot-on title for Dan's @djnicholson.bsky.social book, which happens to be a gem. After reading it and discussing with Dan, I can only picture Schrödinger as a cartoon villain now. braininspired.co/podcast/224/

When I presented my research on Schrödinger at CSHL, everyone was surprised to find Jim Watson seated up front in what was apparently his first public appearance since the pandemic. During my talk, he snored so loudly that he woke himself up, and in the Q&A he loudly described my argument as "Crap!"

Last chance to download my book for free! It's still available until tomorrow.

The Ramsey Lab@theramseylab.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New Element in the Philosophy of Biology series—free to download until Oct. 24! @djnicholson.bsky.social uncovers Schrödinger’s motivations for writing "What Is Life?", revisits its central arguments & examines the book’s lasting impact on cell & molecular biology👇 www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Daniel‘s lectures at our GSK Cancer Science Graduate School are always a curriculum highlight! Contemplating the implicit assumptions of modern biological science can foster new ways of thinking, as some of our old go-to concepts become unwieldy and show their limitations. Students loved it!

The Ramsey Lab@theramseylab.bsky.social · 10mo ago

New Element in the Philosophy of Biology series—free to download until Oct. 24! @djnicholson.bsky.social uncovers Schrödinger’s motivations for writing "What Is Life?", revisits its central arguments & examines the book’s lasting impact on cell & molecular biology👇 www.cambridge.org/core/element...

My little book on Schrödinger's famous classic 'What Is Life?' is out! Offering the most comprehensive analysis ever undertaken of the book's origins, reception, impact, and legacy, it uncovers Schrödinger's motivations in writing it, and shows how it has shaped our current understanding of the cell

<i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited

Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - <i>What Is Life?</i> Revisited

cambridge.org

If you missed that great Cognizing life conference in Tubingen organized by Christoph Hueck two weeks ago, here are the videos of the presentations. Talks by Denis Walsh, Joan Steigerwald, Dan Nicholson and many others.  www.clc2025.de/videos

Weds 14:30/16:30 #ISHPSSB2025 - Biological Variation: Theory and Practice With @djnicholson.bsky.social, Marlene van den Bos, Alan C. Love, Staffan Müller-Wille, Greg Radick, @rosetrappes.bsky.social, Cristina Villegas Explore variation across distinct epistemic & ontological frameworks with us!

Looking forward to the "Cognizing Life Conference 2025", 16.-19. July! With talks by @djnicholson.bsky.social, @dalianassar.bsky.social, @gregoryrupik.bsky.social, @philippehune.bsky.social and many more! You can participate online, all info here: www.clc2025.de #HPBio #PhilSci #HistSci

Every biological entity is unique; no two are exactly alike. Is this a trivial observation, or a profound metaphysical claim about the living world? Read my new paper & find out! It deals with Mayr's "Population Thinking"; one of the most familiar yet tragically misunderstood ideas in all of biology

Population Thinking and the Uniqueness of Biological Entities - Acta Biotheoretica

Acta Biotheoretica - The concept of ‘population thinking’ was introduced by Ernst Mayr in the mid-twentieth century and it has since become one of the most pervasive notions in the...

link.springer.com

This is a very NEAT piece about biomolecular condensates from @philipcball.bsky.social chronicling fascinating discoveries. On the philosophical implications of a lot of this you should read @djnicholson.bsky.social. A brief ego thread on how this relates to my work on genomes follows. 1/4

Mysterious Blobs in Cells Are Changing the Way We Understand Life

Tiny specks called biomolecular condensates are leading to a new understanding of the cell

scientificamerican.com

Just came across @djnicholson.bsky.social's wonderful biography of one of my favorite biologists,E. S. Russell. philpapers.org/archive/NICE...