Wisdom in physiology | Nature

Sir The members of the council of the International Union of Physiological Sciences and all speakers at the round table on integrative physiology at the International Congress of

Physiological Sciences held in St Petersburg on 3 July unanimously support integrative or systemic physiology. They strongly believe that a new generation of physiologists needs to think at

a wider level than that of molecular biology. I agree with this “call for wisdom”, as Denis Noble of the University of Oxford defined it. In my opinion, biologists are now becoming more and

more like geographers, with a microscope instead of a telescope in their hands. ‘Integrative physiology’ means different things to different people. There are many regulatory systems in

physiology, all with specific roles in different organisms. It is essential to find out more about these systems by making the field more popular. Journals must change their policies, and

help to return integrative physiology to the forefront of research. Too many articles are at present returned to authors without peer review. Some, of course, are worthy of that fate, but

not all. There are at least two reasons for hope. First, some laboratories still maintain the old tradition of systemic physiological research; and, second, ‘systemic’ research is far

cheaper than ‘molecular’ research, giving more chance to small, independent laboratories and groups. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Military Medical Academy, 10 Commissar

Smirnov Street, 194044, St Petersburg, Russia Alexander Maryanovich Authors * Alexander Maryanovich View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Maryanovich, A. Wisdom in physiology. _Nature_ 388, 709 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/41858 Download

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