Forget the microscopes. Gene sequencers, microarrays and mass spectrometers are the tools of the trade for today's biologists. Huge advances in technology and computing have revolutionized the field, and instead of breaking living things down into smaller and smaller parts, biologists are looking at the systems that make up living things, reaching out to other disciplines, and trying to get a grip on the eternal mystery: what, exactly, is life? There's been a paradigm shift in the science of life, and it's called systems biology.

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