Algorithms could hold the key to fighting killer diseases

Maths is the language of science. Perhaps a little more surprisingly, maths is also increasingly integral to biology. Computer scientist and World War II code-breaker Alan Turing was one of the first to suggest that biological phenomena could be studied and understood mathematically. In 1952 he proposed a pair of mathematical equations which provide an explanation for how pigmentation patterns might form on animals' coats For hundreds of years mathematics has been used, to great effect, to model relatively simple physical systems. Newton's universal law of gravitation is a fine example.