Prime numbers in biology

[Trurl]

I am interested in how Prime numbers relate to biology. A double helix is made of 2 logarithmic spirals. And there is a field of bioinformatics which I know nothing about.

 

But are there relationships with Primes in biology and if so where should I begin. That is with no training in biology.

 

I found a journal article on the subject but it didn’t get interesting till the last paragraph. And the article didn’t explain these relationships.

 

https://d197for5662m48.cloudfront.net/documents/publicationstatus/39104/preprint_pdf/e048de98234bc62175f7f7c0a366e35b.pdf

 

 

I found it interesting that Prime quantities are found in the nucleotides. But I don’t think it is enough to establish a pattern.

 

 

I believe that you can express the stair steps of the Riemann Hypothesis can be graphed in a logarithmic spiral. Can you apply the graph of a logarithmic spiral to a double helix.

[Genady]

I find many mistakes in the linked article. Take this passage, for example:

Quote

But how these species evolved so that their cycle of life is actual prime numbers? An answer is that their mutual emergence to the forest takes too long and happens once in 13 x 17 = 221 years. While if their life cycles were complex numbers, eg. 12 and 18 years in the above time they would have competed six times, as many are the common multiples of 12 and 18. As we can see, the prime numbers 13 and 17 are not something abstract and random, but the basis of their survival.

It is wrong because the numbers don't need to be prime for this result. The author used an example of 12 and 18, which coincide in 36 years. But the numbers 15 and 16, which are not prime, would coincide in 15 x 16 = 240 years, i.e., even rarer than 221.

[Trurl]

I have to look at it again. I think the problem is the author claims a significant pattern without an explanation. So what he said could be right but we don’t know the context.

I have issues with this journal entry. It tells us a history we don’t need to know and has one paragraph of content. But I could not find any other articles relating Primes to biology.

[Genady]

15 minutes ago, Trurl said:

I have to look at it again. I think the problem is the author claims a significant pattern without an explanation. So what he said could be right but we don’t know the context.

I have issues with this journal entry. It tells us a history we don’t need to know and has one paragraph of content. But I could not find any other articles relating Primes to biology.

I doubt there is any meaningful relation between biology and prime numbers. I am sure that in my MSc program in biology, prime numbers have been never mentioned in any of the classes.

[TheVat]

Some think of cicadas in this regard, but AFAIK their periodicity being primes is just a coincidence.

If you posted a thread about Fibonacci numbers and nature, then we would have something to talk about.

[John Cuthber]

On 5/29/2023 at 9:05 PM, Trurl said:

I found a journal article on the subject but it didn’t get interesting till the last paragraph.

I disagree.
The whole paper seems to be an interesting exercise in confirmation bias.

[Genady]

I wonder, who is the author of this article. It says,

Marinos Spiliopoulos¹

¹Biology Professor

but I couldn't find anything about this "professor" on Internet.

Professor where? What does he do?

There is another unpublished paper of the same author a bit later in the same year, https://scholar.archive.org/work/y36sw2o7znbc5b2cbzudoyydkm, also about a relation between numbers (not prime this time) and biology. Rather than "Biology Professor" it says,

Marinos Spiliopoulos¹

¹Affiliation not available

Fake?

[Trurl]

Quote

If you posted a thread about Fibonacci numbers and nature, then we would have something to talk about.

But isn’t a golden spiral a type of log spiral?

What if the stair steps of the Riemann graph could be put geometrically on to a logarithmic spiral? And with various logarithmic spirals able to be drawn changing the “amount of step?”

But I understand you point. I have seen some good demonstrations of the golden spiral on YouTube.