Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39933526›Full record

ArticleCell systems2025

Should biology put complexity first?

Philip Ball

Abstract readComment
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Cell systems, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Proteoforms as the true units of physiological function.European journal of applied physiology · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. Dynamical systems of fate and form in development.Seminars in cell & developmental biology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Philip BallLondon SE22 0PE, UK. Electronic address: p.ball@btinternet.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The dictum "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler" poses a problem for biology. How simply can it be told without doing damage to its complex nature? The answer might be found by relinquishing tidy but misleading stories that begin with genes and molecules and recognizing that even complex systems have generic principles.

Indexed as

BiologySystems BiologyAnimalsHumans

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.