  Concepts rooted in physics are becoming increasingly important in biology as
we transition to an era in which quantitative descriptions of all processes
from molecular to cellular level are needed. In this essay I discuss two
unexpected findings of universal behavior, uncommon in biology, in the
self-assembly of proteins and RNA. These findings, which are surprising, reveal
that physics ideas applied to biological problems ranging from folding to gene
expression to cellular movement and communication between cells might lead to
discovery of universal principles operating in adoptable living systems.
