Rip up the old rules of biology.
Category: biological – Page 82
Sara Imari Walker: Using physics to rethink the definition of life
Sara Imari Walker is a professor of physics at Arizona State University and the author of a new book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence. As I wrote in my review of the book, I’m a big fan of Walker’s work (full disclosure, we have collaborated before on a paper and a proposal).
The subject of her work and the new book is what might be called the “Physics of Life.” This is different from biophysics, which tries to account for specific physics aspects of biological processes. Instead, the Physics of Life has a more ambitious goal: to understand what separates living from non-living systems.
Along with her collaborators, Walker developed Assembly Theory, which focuses on “selection” and is a fundamental physics account for the difference between life and non-life. Assembly Theory quantifies complexity by measuring how many unique steps are needed to build a molecular structure. By identifying complex patterns that signify biological processes, this framework could help scientists detect life forms on other worlds — even those that may not look like anything we’re familiar with on Earth.
“Third state” of existence beyond life and death confirmed by study
In science fiction movies like Frankenstein and Re-Animator, human bodies are revived, existing in a strange state between life and death. While this may seem like pure fantasy, a recent study suggests that a “third state” of existence might actually be present in modern biology.
According to the researchers, this third state occurs when the cells of a dead organism continue to function after its death, sometimes gaining new capabilities they never had while the organism was alive.
Amazingly, if further experiments on cells from dead animals — including humans — prove this ability, it could even challenge the definition of legal death.
“GENES ARE NOT THE BLUEPRINT FOR LIFE” | Denis Noble
Denis Noble is a renowned biologist and pioneer in systems biology, known for his groundbreaking work on the heart and his influential contributions to the understanding of biological systems.
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U(1) dynamics in neuronal activities
Scientific Reports volume 12, Article number: 17,629 (2022) Cite this article.
Axon-like active signal transmission
Dr. Tim Brown.
Taking…
Axon-mimicking Materials for Computing https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2024/09/axon-mimicking-mat…uting.html.
Biology does things differently: some signals in the brain are also transmitted across centimeter distances, but through…
A method using semi-stable edge of chaos in LaCoO3 enables continuous signal amplification in metallic conductors without separate amplifiers, potentially revolutionizing electronic chip design.
Powered by renewable energy, microbes turn CO₂ into protein and vitamins
However, the yeast should be treated to rid compounds that can increase the risk of gout if consumed excessively. Even so, treated yeast still meets 41% of the daily protein requirement, comparable to traditional protein sources.
This technology aims to address several global challenges: environmental conservation, food security, and public health. Running on clean energy and CO2, the system reduces carbon emissions in food production. It uncouples land use from farming, freeing up space for conservation.
Angenent also stresses that it will not outcompete farmers. Instead, the technology will help farmers concentrate on producing vegetables and crops sustainably. The team’s yeast may also help developing nations overcome food scarcity and nutritional deficiencies by delivering protein and vitamin B9.
Nanoscale silver exhibits intrinsic self-healing abilities without external intervention
As an innovative concept in materials science and engineering, the inspiration for self-healing materials comes from living organisms that have the innate ability to self-heal. Along this line, the search for self-healing materials has been generally focused on “soft” materials like polymers and hydrogels. For solid-state metals, one may intuitively imagine that any form of self-healing will be much more difficult to achieve.