Information in biology

Termin: 20.07.2006

Michael Lachmann (Max Planck Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie Leipzig)

Mehr zur Reihe siehe http://bis.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/de/Lehre/0506/SS/Wissen

Ankündigung

In this talk I will show that the notion of biological fitness, or growth rate, and measures of information are tightly linked. In fact, the Shannon information in a small (not necessarily infinitesimal) signal is exactly equal to the fitness gain that is made by using the signal, and the information in any signal puts a limit on the fitness gain of using the signal. I will look at the notion of information in the genome, how fast information can enter the genome, and how useful it can be once its there. I will also explain why biological probability is two-dimensional, and how to bet in a horse race.