A recent study introduces a framework for comprehending living matter as a series of machines creating machines, which spans from atomic levels to the entire biosphere.
What defines life? – This question is a central mystery within biological sciences, reflecting the intricate complexity and remarkable variety of life forms. This study proposes that one effective way to tackle this overwhelming complexity is to view living matter as a series of machines generating machines. This perspective shows how cells consist of smaller submachines, down to the atomic level where molecular machines, like ion pumps and enzymes, function. Conversely, it also illustrates how cells organize themselves into more extensive systems including tissues, organs, and populations, ultimately forming the biosphere.
This innovative framework results from collaboration between Professors Tsvi Tlusty from the Department of Physics at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea, and Albert Libchaber from the Center for Physics and Biology at Rockefeller University in New York. Their research was influenced by the seventeenth-century thinker Gottfried Leibniz, who remarked that “the machines of nature, that is living bodies, are still machines even in their tiniest components, to infinity.”
Tlusty and Libchaber developed a simplified language that defines living matter as an (almost) infinite, dual cascade, spanning eighteen orders of magnitude in space and thirty in time. The large-scale and small-scale components of this cascade come together at a critical point of 1,000 seconds and 1 micron, which aligns with the typical time and space scales of microbial life. This paper elaborates on the origins of the critical point based on fundamental physical and logical principles, establishing it as the essential conditions for a self-replicating machine to interact with salty water.
This critical point signifies the transition from creating basic self-replicating machines to the formation of societies of such machines, eventually leading to the creation of entire biospheres.
“This research establishes a conceptual foundation for developing mathematical languages that capture the characteristics of life,” stated Professor Tlusty. “Such formal systems are crucial for devising a theory of life.”
