We are entering the era of systems biology, where to truly understand a disease we must understand its causes from the molecular level to the organism level. The sheer number of biological molecules, and the complex nature of their interactions, has engendered a new method of biological experimentation, termed by Leroy Hood as "discovery science." Discovery science is technology-driven, and contrasted with hypothesis-driven science because it relies on making large-scale observations that are

I read with interest the Hot Papers section in your Feb. 6, 1995, issue [page 17]. In particular, I was delighted to see coverage of a paper applying biophysical techniques to cell biological questions (E. Neher, R.S. Zucker, Neuron, 10:21-3, 1993). Nevertheless, I was a little surprised that in your discussion of the recovery of secretory vesicle membrane you failed to cite the first study to define, both quantitatively and kinetically, secretory vesicle membrane retrieval using these techniqu