Mathematics

Information Theory

Claude Shannon's information theory provides the mathematical backbone for understanding how biological systems encode, transmit, and decode signals. Every heartbeat is a message. Every action potential is a bit. The entropy of a cardiac rhythm tells us whether the heart is healthy or failing — high entropy signals adaptability, while pathological regularity precedes arrest. In DNA, four nucleotides encode the entire operating system of life using a quaternary code that rivals any engineered compression algorithm. Shannon entropy quantifies the information content of genetic sequences and reveals the redundancy evolution has built in for error correction.