TY - JOUR T1 - The great ideas of biology JF - Clinical Medicine JO - Clin Med SP - 560 LP - 568 DO - 10.7861/clinmedicine.3-6-560 VL - 3 IS - 6 AU - Paul Nurse Y1 - 2003/11/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/3/6/560.abstract N2 - Four of the great ideas of biology are discussed: the cell as the basic structural and functional unit of life, the gene as the mechanism of heredity, evolution by natural selection, and life as chemistry. A fifth idea is explored whereby biological organisation is explained in terms of logical and informational processes and structures. ER -