Computer Science and Biology: An Unlikely Pair

from the first installment (IEEE Intelligent Systems, Nov./Dec. 2001, vol. 16, no. 6) to this second one, and several accepted manuscripts will spill over to future issues of IEEE Intelligent Systems. This outstanding community support reflects the interest and excitement that permeates the field. In a very real and immediate sense, our biomedical colleagues today are running the experiments and generating the data that will unlock the deepest secrets of biology and medicine. As indicated by the cover illustration and its image of harvesting the fruits of knowledge, intelligent systems will play a crucial role in transforming these into tangible biomedical benefits that will improve the lot of all mankind. To some, there is a deep irony in the fact that computational intelligence has such a crucial role in the understanding of life. Computer science and biology are, at first blush, an unlikely pairing: abstract, symbolic–numeric computation and wet, evolved living things. But the depth of the relationship between computing and life has only begun to be plumbed, and already the marriage has changed both fields forever. One day, the relationship between biology and computer science might be seen to be as deep and abiding as the relationship between mathematics and physics.