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måndag 20 februari 2012

The mystery of Life solved?

Biochemist, PhD Erik Andrulis, expert on RNA metabolism and life, has published a paper "Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life," and you can download the whole thing for free from the peer-reviewed journal Life, in the Special Issue "Origin of Life - Feature Papers" (with 6 papers, of which S. Kauffman also contributed). The paper created a violent rejection of 'mainstream' scientists, so they call in a journalist Jesse Emspak for their defense. The whole thing reminds much of the way Benveniste, 'the heretic' was treated, when the magicer Randi was called in to disclaim his work. Why is such things happening? This man Andrulis belongs to mainstream himself, but his insights took a giant jump, and so he is rejected, because the ordinary scientists are too ignorant. They cannot even discuss it? This is a shame for the scientific world. He thinks of the Holy Grail of Life, the billion research industry of today, and is rejected without discussion, just misunderstandings and misquotes? What a pity! So, lets take a look.

Earth as a lifelike self-organized state, the Gaia theory.
So, what did he say that was so dangerous? Earth is living! The Gaia hypothesis by James Lovelock (and Lynn Margulis). (The theory homeside here.) But there are actually hints for it being true. Even Lubos discusses this (negatively still). It says that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. The self-organizing system and Gaia theory is also here with plants as a part of the biota Earth. Phil Gibbs: At 86 Lovelock is no longer considered a crank. He is appreciated as the founder of a new area of science investigating the relationship between biological systems and the atmosphere. Without his insight we would have been much slower to understand the negative effects we have been having on our climate through pollution.
A book
by Eileen Crist and H. Bruce Rinker from 2009 Gaia in Turmoil, Climate Change, Biodepletion, and Earth Ethics in an Age of Crisis.

Gaian theory, which holds that Earth's physical and biological processes are inextricably bound to form a self-regulating system, is more relevant than ever in light of increasing concerns about global climate change. The Gaian paradigm of Earth as a living system, first articulated by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, has inspired a burgeoning body of researchers working across disciplines that range from physics and biology to philosophy and politics. Gaia in Turmoil reflects this disciplinary richness and intellectual diversity, with contributions (including essays by both Lovelock and Margulis) that approach the topic from a wide variety of perspectives, discussing not only Gaian science but also global environmental problems and Gaian ethics and education.
...focus first on the science of Gaia, considering such topics as the workings of the biosphere, the planet's water supply, and evolution; then discuss Gaian perspectives on global environmental change, including biodiversity destruction and global warming; and finally explore the influence of Gaia on environmental policy, ethics, politics, technology, economics, and education.
... breaks new ground by focusing on global ecological problems from the perspectives of Gaian science and knowledge, focusing especially on the challenges of climate change and biodiversity destruction.
David Abram, Donald Aitken, Connie Barlow, J. Baird Callicott, Bruce Clarke, Eileen Crist, Tim Foresman, Stephan Harding, Barbara Harwood, Tim Lenton, Eugene Linden, Karen Litfin, James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Bill McKibben, Martin Ogle, H. Bruce Rinker, Mitchell Thomashow, Tyler Volk, Hywel Williams.
Al Gore wrote a book entitled Earth in the Balance, where he wrote sympathetically about the Gaia hypothesis of an earth spirit. Dr. Stephen H. Schneider (with many books, latest from 2009, Climate Change Science and Policy one of the most comprehensive and current reference resource on climate change available) a climatologist and Penelope Boston, complex systems bioloy, cited the Gaia theory in his book, Scientists on Gaia, on global warming. “...is there a Goddess of the Earth?” and "The Gaia hypothesis suggests that life is an active participant in shaping the physical and chemical environment on which it depends." This is a common way to charachterize Life in biology. He is one of several scientists who contributed to the 2004 book, Scientists Debate Gaia. A description of the book declares, “Despite initial dismissal of the Gaian approach as New Age philosophy, it has today been incorporated into mainstream interdisciplinary scientific theory, as seen in its strong influence on the field of Earth System Science.” Schneider won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize together with Al Gore. He has been threated many hundred times also death-threats, but he died of heart-attack at 65. Sad with such stress. Has it made his death? He has written another book Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save the Earth's Climate about science as a network of 'best brothers' scientists.

So Andrulis is in good company.

The critizing article:

The trans-disciplinary theory demonstrates that purportedly inanimate, non-living objects—for example, planets, water, proteins, and DNA—are animate, that is, alive . . .
He didn't say so. A misquote. He [Andrulis] doesn't say that everything is alive, exactly, though he says gyres have "lifelike characteristics." So Andrulis doesn't say what Emspak just told us he does say? Maybe the space spinors should be extended? Today we have spacelike, timelike and lightlike spinors, maybe there should be lifelike too? Or can the lifelike charachteristics have something with the lightlike Universe to do? In this case it is clearly not life, but maybe its precusors? TGD actually talk of these same things. Essential for life is a consciousness, coherence and synchrony.

Jesse Emspak (not scientist) just published an article at Space.com titled “Crackpot Theory of Everything Reveals Dark Side of Peer Review.” talking about the peer review process, and the dark side of modern science propaganda.




Erik Andrulis of Case Western suggest everything around us oscillates between excited and ground states as objects pivot around the center of these lifelike gyres, or spinning spirals. CREDIT: R.T. Wohlstadter | Shutterstock

On the University page Andrulis writes:
My group has been asking two broad questions: How does the spatiotemporal control of RNase interactions and post-translational modifications relate to RNase recognition and metabolism of specific classes of RNAs in living cells? How does RNase activity relate to cell structure and function? To answer these questions, we are studying Dis3, Rrp6, and the ribonucleometabolic exosome. Dis3 is a processive, sequence-nonspecific 3' to 5' RNase that is homologous to eubacterial RNase R/II. Rrp6 is a distributive, sequence-nonspecific 3' to 5' RNase similar to eubacterial RNase D. The exosome is a multi-subunit complex or set of complexes that contain(s) putative RNases (Rrp41, Rrp42, Rrp43, Rrp45, Rrp46, Mtr3 are eukaryotic homologs of the eubacterial RNase PH) and the S1 RNA-binding domain proteins Rrp4, Rrp40, and Csl4. We have proposed and are testing the hypothesis that these subunits assemble into multiple independent, functionally interrelated complexes called exozymes.

Extending upon this RNA research, I recently compiled an incommensurable, trans-disciplinary, neologistical, axiomatic theory of life from quantum gravity to the living cell.
The article says:
To test his paradigm, Dr. Andrulis designed bidirectional flow diagrams that both depict and predict the dynamics of energy and matter. While such diagrams may be foreign to some scientists, they are standard reaction notation to chemists, biochemists, and biologists. Dr. Andrulis has used his theory to successfully predict and identify a hidden signature of RNA biogenesis...the exozyme model.
So he has some kind of proofs? The abstract: Full text here.
Exosome complexes are composed of 10 to 11 subunits and are involved in multiple facets of 3' → 5' RNA processing and turnover. The current paradigm stipulates that a uniform, stoichiometric core exosome, composed of single copies of each subunit, carries out all RNA metabolic functions in vivo. While core composition is well established in vitro, available genetic, cell biological, proteomic, and transcriptomic data raise questions about whether individual subunits contribute to RNA metabolic functions exclusively within the complex. Here, we recount the current understanding of the core exosome model and show predictions of the core model that are not satisfied by the available evidence. To resolve this discrepancy, we propose the exozyme hypothesis, a novel model stipulating that while exosome subunits can and do carry out certain functions within the core, subsets of exosome subunits and cofactors also assemble into a continuum of compositionally distinct complexes-exozymes-with different RNA specificities. The exozyme model is consistent with all published data and provides a new framework for understanding the general mechanisms and regulation of RNA processing and turnover.

In TGD Matti talks of 'Gaias womb' in evolution. Earth is a coherent field body that acts as controlling agent. Also with consciousness and lifelike properties. Did Life evolve in the womb of Gaia? Matti also talks of DNA and life, water, plasmoids, lightnings etc. as lifelike. We have looked at the exosome and its 1:10-fold fractality as in electron:proton.


The gyre model?
In a wry article about Andrulis' work, Ars Technica's John Timmer summed the paper up:
The basic idea is that everything, from subatomic particles to living systems, is based on helical systems the author calls "gyres," which transform matter, energy, and information. These transformations then determine the properties of various natural systems, living and otherwise. What are these gyres? It's really hard to say; even Andrulis admits that they're just "a straightforward and non-mathematical core model" (although he seems to think that's a good thing). Just about everything can be derived from this core model; the author cites "major phenomena including, but not limited to, quantum gravity, phase transitions of water, why living systems are predominantly CHNOPS (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur), homochirality of sugars and amino acids, homeoviscous adaptation, triplet code, and DNA mutations."
First the 'gyres'. What are they? Andrulis:
One reason for their theoretical appeal is that gyres are detectable throughout the cosmic and tellurian realms.
Astronomically, galaxies, solar systems, comets, and lunar bodies gyrate.

Atmospherically, tornadoes, hurricanes, eddies, and vortex streets are all gyres. Oceanographically, there are seven major gyres.
Molecularly, numerous nucleic acid and protein structures—DNA double helix, RNA hairpins, pseudoknots, α-helices, coiled coils, and β-propellers—all gyrate. Cellularly and organismally, shells, horns, antennae, flagellae, and the cochlea all carry a spiral imprint.
Given its theoretical pedigree, empirical ubiquity, and dynamic character, the gyre appears, a posteriori, to be a prime candidate for a core model of natural systems.
Gyre - a round shape formed by a series of concentric circles (as formed by leaves or flower petals) The Free Dictionary.
curl, curlicue, ringlet, scroll, whorl, coil, roll A spiral oceanic surface current
corolla - (botany) the whorl of petals of a flower that collectively form an inner floral envelope or layer of the perianth; "we cultivate the flower for its corolla"
calyx - (botany) the whorl of sepals of a flower collectively forming the outer floral envelope or layer of the perianth enclosing and supporting the developing bud; usually green
round shape - a shape that is curved and without sharp angles
verticil - a whorl of leaves growing around a stem

Wikipedia says: A gyre is any manner of swirling vortex, particularly a natural phenomenon. It can refer to
Yeah, is this a physical description? Why on Earth go to this? Why use 'a black box' for the physical description, and say he has gone to quantum mechanics level, when physicists are trying to explain things with first principles and basic natural laws. To only use simplicity and Occams razor isn't enough? Eintein said: "Simple, but not simpler than it is". He didn't explain his motives for doing like this in the text. A 'core model'? Yeah, but the core is ad hoc used to tie togeteher microcosmos and macrocosmos. The idea is good, though, but it must be deduced from physical principles. Wikipedia:
A vortex is a spinning, often turbulent, flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed streamlines is vortex flow. The motion of the fluid swirling rapidly around a center is called a vortex. The speed and rate of rotation of the fluid in a free (irrotational) vortex are greatest at the center, and decrease progressively with distance from the center, whereas the speed of a forced (rotational) vortex is zero at the center and increases proportional to the distance from the center. Both types of vortices exhibit a pressure minimum at the center, though the pressure minimum in a free vortex is much lower.
The outcome of his fundamental gyre functions is 13 additional gyreprinciples or axioms. A gyre glossary is added to the article. Andrulis tries to introduce a novel idea.

Life is complex and perplexing. It should come as no surprise that modeling life is a complicated procedure. Likewise, explaining a theory of life is an arduous task. Thus, prior to proceeding, I issue several warnings regarding the model and theory. The gyromodel is incommensurable with prior and existing theories. Thus, the reader must judge this theory by two criteria: the principle of parsimony, or Ockham’s Razor—the scientific principle dictating that things behave or are connected in the simplest and most economical fashion—and the ability to explain the available scientific data. Another challenge is discovered in the lexicon, where I have redefined established terms and created and applied ~100 new words to identify, explain, and interconnect distinct aspects of the theory. Creating a new vocabulary yields, on the one hand, a single, tight system to unify multiple disparate scientific languages. On the other hand, simultaneously supplanting the vernaculars of physics, chemistry, and biology may cause a high degree of frustration. Together, the foreign symbolism, semantics, and lexicon make comprehending the gyromodel difficult. As more is different, one must think differently to interpret more. Finally, this theory challenges long-held assumptions, guiding philosophies, ad hoc models, cherished paradigms, ossified boundaries, and, quite regrettably, patience.
These warnings represent a full and sincere disclosure of the difficulties in effectively presenting my model and theory and of convincing the reader of its scientific merit.
Ye??? And restricted references, but still p66-105. He use only one or two references to defend a position or to guide the reader.

A schematic picture of a gyre from Andrulis article. It starts from the lepton in ordinary matter, and is both expanding and compressing etc. at the same time depending on energy movement (thermodynamics). It also makes up for the relations between elements as oxygen (O), carbon (C), phosphor (P) , amins (A) etc. up to cell. In this model microcosmos cannot be divided from macrocosmos.

Here, for brevity, I highlight only one theoretical solution for each gyrosystem. The electrogyre explains quantum gravity, unifying quantum mechanics and general relativity in a frame beyond the standard model [753]; the oxygyre explains the mysterious properties of water [133]; the carbogyre explains the emergence of hydrocarbons in the Earth’s mantle and crust, resolving the biotic/abiotic petroleum debate [754]; the phosphogyre explains why phosphorus is “life’s bottleneck [755]” and the dominant roles of phosphate in biology [756]; the ribogyre solves the problem of novel genetic information [757-759]; the aminogyre explains the origin and nature of the translation apparatus, one of theoretical biology’s grand unsolved problems [488,760]; the genogyre clarifies the correct relationship of DNA, protein, and RNA, quelling anonymous protestations against the central dogma [761,762]; and the cellulogyre reveals that life originates in any biosphere wherever the thermodynamics of information, energy, and matter are accommodating, consistent with ideas regarding hierarchical complexification of and in the universe [763]. Together, the theoretical framework confirms what many modern theoretical physicists have proposed: that the classical world is “quantum all the way [764].” p 62.

Some forms of gyres: (a) Electrogyre, (b) Oxygyre, (c) Carbogyre, (d) Phosphogyre, (e) Ribogyre, (f) Aminogyre, (g) Genogyre, (h) Cellulogyre, photograph of Cirripathes spiralis, a coral species, p 29.

Gyre thermodynamics and forms:
Gyres are open thermodynamic entities that require energy and matter mobilization to establish and maintain themselves. Being open systems, gyres import energy and matter from their surroundings into themselves, ebb and flow energy and matter within themselves, and dissipate energy and matter from themselves into their surroundings. Reducing or increasing amounts of energy and matter elicits gyre contraction or expansion, respectively. When efflux or influx is acute, extreme, or unsustainable, a gyre collapses. A gyre staves off collapse through autoregulation: a gyre feeds into itself, regulating its own rotational rate, size, composition, motion, and trajectory. Gyre autoregulation is spatiotemporally internal and/or external, proximal and/or distal, negative and/or positive. Consistent with its autoregulatory bent, a gyre maintains homeostasis—internal responsiveness and balance—by oscillating material around its singularity, a consequence of alternating between extreme countervailing forces within itself. Previewing the application of the gyromodel to life, the cell is an open thermodynamic entity that has numerous, discrete layers of autoregulation

The geometric form created is called a hypersphere; this shape is compatible with ideas regarding the thermodynamic expansion of the universe [42,43]. Still, in nature, there is manifest directionality, such as that observed in the N- to C-terminal orientation of the protein chain or 5’ to 3’ orientation of nucleotide polymers. Though gyromodels are depicted as having a left-to-right vectorization, this is simply a two-dimensional restriction of the artistic approach. From this two-dimensional perspective, one revolution of a gyre is seen as a circle or oval. A circle, when viewed in three dimensions, is a cycle. Closing this circle of thought: a cycle viewed in the context of time, or four dimensions, looks like a rotating spiral, helix, or gyre. Foreshadowing, any cycle that exists in nature—in physical, chemical, or biological systems—may be viewed as a gyre.

Fourth Law of Thermodynamics. The theoretical framework sheds light on how life maintains order and complexifies in spite of entropy: the repulsive force of the gyradaptive singularity elevates a particle to its excited state, offsetting the effects of it cycling to the ground state. The gyromodel thus confirms the existence of the fourth law of thermodynamics [770], the ordering law of the universe. p 63.
Given the law of relativity, IEM order and disorder are demonstrated to be relative to the singularity. Further, given the law of complementarity, universal order and disorder paradoxically co-exist. In proving this contradictory fact, my theory does not “collapse in deepest humiliation [781],” but rather reflects and honors the true nature of the physical world. p 64.

All natural gyres harbor two countervailing forces: attraction and repulsion. Paradoxically, the gyre singularity both attracts and repels energy and matter and thus is “attractorepulsive.” These unified yet contradictorily dual (diune) forces exert paradoxical effects. Gyre forces occur both within an individual gyre and also between and among gyres. For example, two transverse gyres exhibit constructive interference when synchiral (same chirality) and destructive interference when antichiral (opposing chirality). Alternatively, the fine-tuning and balancing of two contradictory forces results in neutrality, immutability, and immobility—identifiable characteristics of physical systems.
Gravity and antigravity? Or positive and negative energy? Like a Zero Energy Ontology and Kähler action behind massivation inTGD?
The identification of the spectrum of light particles reduces to two tasks: the construction of massless states and the identification of the states which remain light in p-adic thermodynamics. The latter task is relatively straightforward. The thorough understanding of the massless spectrum requires however a real understanding of quantum TGD. It would be also highly desirable to understand why p-adic thermodynamics combined with p-adic length scale hypothesis works. A lot of progress has taken place in these respects during last years.
Zero energy ontology providing a detailed geometric view about bosons and fermions, the generalization of S-matrix to what I call M-matrix, the notion of finite measurement resolution characterized in terms of inclusions of von Neumann algebras, the derivation of p-adic coupling constant evolution and p-adic length scale hypothesis from the first principles, the realization that the counterpart of Higgs mechanism involves generalized eigenvalues of the modified Dirac operator...

About formative forces in TGD:

The string world sheets in Euclidian regions would de ne the analogs of the minimal surfaces in Euclidian AdS5 and the string world sheets in Minkowskian regions the analogs of Minkowskian AdS5. The magnitudes of the areas would be identical so that they might be seen as analytical continuations of each other in some sense. Note that partonic 2-surfaces would belong to the intersection of Euclidian and Minkowskian space-time regions. This argument tells nothing about possible momentum space analog of M4 x CP2.
The strong form of General Coordinate Invariance implies e ffective 2-dimensionality (holding true in finite measurement resolution) so that also a strong form of holography emerges. The expectation is that Chern-Simons terms in turn reduces to 2-dimensional surface terms. The only physically interesting possibility is that these 2-D surface terms correspond to areas for minimal surfaces de fined by string world sheets and partonic 2-surfaces appearing in the solution ansatz for the preferred extremals. String world sheets would give to Kähler action an imaginary contribution having interpretation as Morse function. This contribution would be proportional to their total area and assignable with the Minkowskian regions of the space-time surface. Similar but real string world sheet contribution de fining Kähler function comes from the Euclidian space-time regions and should be equal to the contribution of the partonic 2-surfaces. A natural conjecture is that the absolute values of all three areas are identical: this would realize duality between string world sheets and partonic 2-surfaces and duality between Euclidian and Minkowskian space-time regions.
Zero energy ontology combined with the TGD analog of large Nc expansion inspires an educated guess about the coeffcient of the minimal surface terms and a beautiful connection with p-adic physics and with the notion of nite measurement resolution emerges. The t'Hooft coupling should be proportional to p-adic prime p characterizing particle. This means extremely fast convergence of the counterpart of large Nc expansion in TGD since it becomes completely analogous to the pinary expansion of the partition function in p-adic thermodynamics. Also the twistor description and its dual have a nice interpretation in terms of zero energy ontology. This duality permutes massive wormhole contacts which can have off mass shell with wormhole throats which are always massive (also for the internal lines of the generalized Feynman graphs).
Actually Andrulis comes out with the same figures as in TGD, with Matrioshka dolls, hierarchy (sub/supragyres resp CD-diamonds) and infinite fractality, nesting/wormholes etc.
Stuart Kauffman talks about work cycles as thermodynamic entities too. About the history of the independent invention in 1971 by T. Ganti, M. Eigen and Kauffman of three alternative theories of the origin of molecular replication: the Chemotron, the Hypercycle, and Collectively Autocatalytic Sets, CAS, respectively.

To date, only collectively autocatalytic DNA, RNA, and peptide sets have achieved molecular reproduction of polymers. Theoretical work and experimental work on CAS both support their plausibility as models of openly evolvable protocells, if housed in dividing compartments such as dividing liposomes. My own further hypothesis beyond that of CAS in themselves, of their formation as a phase transition in complex chemical reaction systems of substrates, reactions and products, where the molecules in the system are candidates to catalyze the very same reactions, now firmly established as theorems, awaits experimental proof using combinatorial chemistry to make libraries of stochastic DNA, RNA and/or polypeptides, or other classes of molecules to test the hypothesis that molecular polymer reproduction has emerged as a true phase transition in complex chemical reaction systems.

An essential feature of the CAS above is that they can be purely exergonic. Real cells link exergonic and endergonic reactions in complex webs of reactions, and perform work cycles such as chemo-osmotic pumps.
i. Consider a hypothetical world in which only exergonic reactions can be coupled;
ii. Consider a hypothetical world in which exergonic and endergonic reactions can be coupled.
Almost a Theorem: The richness of the web of coupled reactions is far greater if exergonic and endergonic reactions can be coupled, than if only exergonic reactions can couple. In turn, the more complex the web of coupled reactions, together with the chance that molecules in the web are catalysts for the same reactions, the easier it is to form collectively autocatalytic sets. There may well be a selective advantage in the formation of CAS to link exergonic and endergonic reactions.
Thus a central point.
IF exergonic and endergonic processes are linked, there is no point in eating unless a work cycle is completed. It is useless to take in food, or a renewed energy source, (the second explosive charge placed in the base of the cannon), if a work cycle is not completed. Work cycles are necessary to the efficacy of feeding if exergonic and endergonic processes are linked.

But...

Real cells need both energy, and to perform thermodynamic work cycles by which spontaneous (exergonic) and non-spontaneous (endergonic) processes are linked into large webs of cyclic and cross cyclic processes, which are in fact work cycles. At present we know that simple substances, such as pyrophosphate, might serve as driving energy sources; but that might still be a trivial extension from purely exergonic CAS, driven by pyrophosphate.
Real cells use proton gradients, e.g., mitochondria use ATP to drive endergonic reactions. We have little theory about the emergence of work cycles in protolife, although we know that life is a non-equilibrium process. From the above, if we link exergonic and endergonic processes, there must be completed work cycles for food to be useful. As Schrodinger said in What is Life? we eat negentropy and excrete entropy. However, Schrodinger missed the need for work cycles if exergonic and endergonic processes are linked. We have had no theory for how far-from-equilibrium cells do work cycles. Carnot showed maximum energy efficiency for work cycles if performed infinitely slowly, i.e., adiabatically. Although, if the work cycle is needed for cell or protocell reproduction, such a cell will lose the Darwinian race, implying that energy efficiency must be the wrong concept.
So, why do we eat? Ingest, take in information etc. Act as a negative entropy system? We need 'negative negative entropy' to maintain the system? The same as quantum computer scientists have realized. Wells, memory... to minimize dissipation, scattering, negative interference? Negative interference destroys coherence and collapse into decoherence.

With Tommi Aho and Olli Yli-Harja at the Tampere University of Technology Finland, we [27] have taken a model of E. coli metabolism, calculated biomass production rate per unit fuel use rate, plotted on the Y axis versus fuel (glucose) use rate on the X axis. We find a unimodal distribution with a maximum at a finite rate of glucose utilization per unit time, a power efficiency maximization point, which seems interesting because it picks out a preferred displacement from chemical equilibrium, maximizing the efficiency of cell reproduction per unit fuel used. This criterion is related to K, not R selection in ecology, i.e., selection, not for a high reproduction rate, but for sustained reproduction when food resources are limited. If this is a general condition in life, for example in bacterial colonies, or ecosystems, we may have found a principle for an optimal power efficiency in the work cycles of life.
Current work shows that this theory fits the empirical data available somewhat better than the standard model of “most rapid growth.” More bacteria tune their growth rate based on their density by quorum sensing, perhaps bringing bacterial colonies to a power efficiency optimum. When power efficiency is maximized, heat production should be minimized such that, a maximum amount of the energy available to cells is going into reproduction of cells, not into waste heat. If this is correct, life does NOT maximize entropy production and flattening energy gradients, but maximizes power efficiency per unit food utilized, under K selection, at a specifiable optimal displacement from equilibrium where it may minimize entropy production compared to reproduction rate.
Andrulis about particle-wave Unity (not duality):
The gyromodel clarifies how a quantum has both wave and particle qualities: as one particle oscillates between two extreme gyrostates, its gyratory path creates an undulating pattern that is detected as a wave. When many particles oscillate around the same or different singularities, they create constructive or destructive waveforms. When the gyromodel is considered as a gyre, it manifests classical wave characteristics: wavelength, amplitude, and frequency. When considered as a quantum, it exhibits particle characteristics: translational, rotational, and vibrational movement. The gyromodel thus accounts for particle spin.
A bit summaristic. I would want some description about different kinds of spin and particles. He also talk of gyres as linking macrocosmos (GR) to microcosmos (QM) but nothing about SR as link and its spacetime model. Nothing about Zero Points as infinite points, grids or dynamos, binding together. Not much of physics at all. This is a typical biologist, thinking he doesn't need physics? This I cannot accept. About antimatter:
An outstanding question in physics is why there is so little antimatter in the physical universe [119,120]. Microcosmically, the tertiary electrogyre shows the electron cycling out the thermodynamic support of the triphoton. Given synchiral organization of the tertiary majorgyre gyrobase, the electron destabilizes and ultimately collapses due to the synchiral sub2gyre (not shown) in lieu of the antichiral subgyre, modeling the positron. The extreme creatodestructive swing of the electrogyre thus provides an explanation for the fleeting presence, or absence, of antimatter in the universe.
Really no 'explanation'. (Compare to annihilation of vortex video. Abelian Higgs Model 2+1 dimensions ~ superconducting vortices annihilating to oscillons by Joel Thorarinson). Andrulis just talks of an collapse, and not the energetic addition of forces, nor the reason why we have antimatter as counterbalancing force for gravity.
He establish strict non-cognitive meanings for learning and memory. The Machine model. "Learning is a continual, unstable, and energetically demanding affair. Gyre learning, or gyrognosis, is the process by which the gyradaptor repels the particle from the gyrobase to the gyrapex. Memory, by comparison, is a relativistically stable and energetically conserving phenomenon. The process of storing IEM (energy) in gyre memory, or gyromnemesis... gyre learning and memory are relative to the gyradaptive singularity."
A Self, but no cognition nor consciousness? No true realizing of a meaning or quale? He talks about qualias: "Information, in turn, is the distinct patterns or organizations of energy and matter, with these patterns detectable by observation and quale".

Theory in eight subsections, each detailing a discrete, empirically defined system that is amenable to theoretical modeling: visible matter, water, organic matter, phosphomembrane, RNA, protein, DNA, and cell. This theoretical framework concomitantly depicts both the microcosm— the biology, chemistry, and physics of the existing living cell—and the macrocosm—the astrophysical and biogeophysichemical (geospheric, hydrospheric, atmospheric, biospheric) process underlying the evolution of life on Earth. Hence, subdividing this framework into separate parts defined by scale, by field, by topic, or by evolutionary spacetime is not scientifically appropriate for modeling life in toto.
Meaning of Life.
Life has many definitional meanings but lacks a complete and consistent scientific explanation. In this work, I have pursued and arrived at a scientific answer to the Schrödingerian question, “What is Life? [1].” Traditionally, the living cell is commonly called “animate” and all other biospheric and cellular chemicals and molecules are called “inanimate.” However, this theory and the law of vortex motion prove that all these physical systems gyrate and are, as such, “animated.” Moreover, theory-defined laws of unity and correspondence require that life and Earth evolve as one, with thermodynamically appropriate conditions (the fitness of the biosphere [788,789]). Unexpectedly, then, this theory reveals that Earth—or, for that matter, any celestial, physical, chemical, and molecular system—is alive, that is, synonymous with life. Given this definitional and conceptual upheaval, I propose that a very open and candid discussion of the meaning of life—well beyond this text—is in order. On this topic, it may be useful to consider how scientifically redefining life elucidates non-scientific, eudaemonic meanings of “life,” “living,” or “alive,” related to ontology, consciousness, sentience, behavior, vocation, or social interactions.
The gyre models the living universe perfectly. I have been unable to find one system, particle, event, or process—at any point or stage leading up to or during the origin of life—that does not consent to modeling onto the gyre form. In other words, there is no “before” or “after” the gyre in a spacetime sense; the gyre is evolutionarily and existentially omnipresent.
As concluding remark:
In science and theory, the principle of parsimony dictates that the most straightforward, plain, and frugal model of an observation or set thereof is more favorable and likely right. As my theoretical framework coalesces a vast amount of accumulated scientific evidence into one neat, lawful, and interconnected modular structure, it abides by this principle. In conclusion, this catholic theory provides an innovative and elegant solution to the origin, evolution, and nature of life in the cosmos. I humbly offer my theory as a viable system for knowing life.
This paper must be seen as premature, with no discussion and links to other ideas. And it is very far from a theory. He makes Life reductionistic, ordinary matter, like a computer intelligence, and doesn't explain how it differ from ordinary matter. Abelian and non abelian math? He says it is non-mathematical? No funding source supported this work. no, certainly not.

I did not provide gyrosystems to model much of the scientific evidence related to astrophysics, particle physics, and cosmology before the electrogyre, nor did I integrate organismal, ecological, and ethological data after the cellulogyre. I predict that further gyromodel application will reveal its explanatory breadth and power. For example, given that complexity theorists find there to be a unifying organization in ecosystems, language, and economics.
But the scaling-question? The problem of thermodynamics in open systems? Does this paper really 'explain' anything? Testable? He says there are tests. To me it looks more like a scientific frame or overview, very similar to the theory TGD, but lifeless, without consciousness and cognitions. He wants to redefine Life, yes, but is this the way? Everyone can feel themselves how a stone differ from a cell or animal. No, I am not satisfied. But as idea it is interesting. Just replace the gyre with a cone. This is very far from the beautiful TGD Universe.
The aminogyre makes some very profound and testable predictions about the specificity of the genetic code and how proteins behave, lengthen and shorten, and fold and unfold in response to physical and biometabolic changes or changes in genetic information content of RNA. -well this is his speciality, so he should know.
The papers in the Life Special Issue was:
Erik D. Andrulis Article: Theory of the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life Life 2012, 2(1), 1-105; doi:10.3390/life2010001
Victor Norris and Yohann Grondin Article: DNA Movies and Panspermia Life 2011, 1(1), 9-18; doi:10.3390/life1010009
Richard Egel Essay: Primal Eukaryogenesis: On the Communal Nature of Precellular States, Ancestral to Modern Life Life 2012, 2(1), 170-212; doi:10.3390/life2010170
Victor Ostrovskii and Elena Kadyshevich Article: Life Origination Hydrate Hypothesis (LOH-Hypothesis) Life 2012, 2(1), 135-164; doi:10.3390/life2010135
Stuart A. Kauffman Article: Approaches to the Origin of Life on Earth Life 2011, 1(1), 34-48; doi:10.3390/life1010034
Christopher H. House, Emily J. Beal and Victoria J. Orphan Article: The Apparent Involvement of ANMEs in Mineral Dependent Methane Oxidation, as an Analog for Possible Martian Methanotrophy Life 2011, 1(1), 19-33; doi:10.3390/life1010019

fredag 5 augusti 2011

Artificial life conference, Paris.

Next week it’s the European Artificial Life Conference (ECAL) 2011 in Paris.

Artificial Life is an interdisciplinary undertaking that investigates the fundamental properties of living systems through the simulation and synthesis of biological entities and processes. It also attempts to design and build artificial systems that display properties of organisms, or societies of organisms, out of abiotic or virtual parts.

ECAL, the European Conference on Artificial Life, is a biennial event that alternates with the US-based Alife conference series.

Download the complete PDF program booklet (53-page, includes all the abstracts)



I borrow this!

So what is life?

Posted by 5.8. on steennewmexico

This question, of course, has to be addressed, if you want to create life from scratch. At our FLinT center in Denmark we study and implement life-like and minimal living processes in a variety of materials and systems. In particular we seek to assemble a minimal protocell, a minimal physicochemically based cell.

First a little history:

Von Neumann, the inventor of the modern computer, realized that if life is a physical process, it should be possible to implement life in other media than biochemistry. He was one of the first to propose the possibility of implementing genuine living processes in computers, robots and other media. This perspective, while still controversial, is rapidly gaining momentum in many science and engineering communities and it is the basis for our work. Ilya Prigogine reemphasized and clarified the importance of utilizing free energy fluxes to generate order in physicochemical systems through self-organization. The metabolic processes in our protocells utilize free energy to maintain local order. Our metabolism is a thermodynamic engine that locally drives our system away from equilibrium. Manfred Eigen pointed out that autocatalysis between functional physicochemical components could be a mechanism for the emergence of early life and that autocatalysis can enhance a systems ability to maintain information. All our protocellular components are autocatalytically coupled.

Now, what is minimal physicochemical life then?

There is not a generally agreed upon definition of life within the scientific community, as there is a grey zone of interesting processes between nonliving and living matter. Our work on assembling minimal physicochemical life is based on implementing systems that meets three criteria, which most modern biological life forms satisfy.

In my opinion, and from a practical point of view, a minimal living physicochemical system needs to:

  1. use free energy to convert resources from the environment into building blocks so that it can grow and reproduce,
  2. have the growth and division processes at least partly controlled by inheritable information, and
  3. allow the inheritable information to change slightly from one generation to the next, thereby permitting variation of the growth and division processes and thus allow selection and hence evolution.

How difficult can that be? Implementing these three simple criteria?

Well, I’m telling you, it’s not easy. It’s very complicated, as it takes many components to fall into place at the same time, and these components are not only of scientific nature.

For me personally, it took many years to convince any funding agency (peer review committee), that this kind of work is even possible. Secondly, we had to convince the committees that this work is worthy to spent tax payers money on: “In which sense will assembling minimal life benefit society?” Very important question, which I’ll get back to in some later blog. Only very few funding agencies give you money for basic, or curiosity driven, science.

I’ll say, getting continued funding for our activities is still, and has been, the hardest part of creating life. It’s certainly more complex than doing the science.

Secondly, due to the necessary complexities of the involved physicochemical systems, this kind of science is not a one-man activity. It takes a small village of skilled scientists from different disciplines, which gets us back to the previous point about money, as well as being able to host an exciting research environment.

Finally, and of course most importantly, it takes human wondering and amazement about why things are the way they are, as well as the courage to dream about how things could be. And it takes very good people. Without good people nothing moves. And then it takes tenacity. A dedicated effort day after day (and sometimes nights), month after month, year after year.

So don’t become a scientist unless you can’t help it. It consumes too much of you. But if you can’t help it, playing with your imagination and dreaming up new stuff, I believe is one of the most exhilarating things you can do as a human being. However, fundraising, writing grants, doing budgets, paying bills, dealing with whatever organization you are a part of, managing very smart people (herding cats), teaching, correcting exams, etc., is exhausting and can take some of the fun out of it. But that’s how it is. There are no free lunch.


lördag 11 juni 2011

The Origin of Life discussed at Cern.

Biology as a foundation for theoretical physics has taken a step forward.

"The current status of work on the origin of life" by Stuart Kauffman (FRSC, U Vermont, Santa Fe Institute, Tampere U. Technology) Thursday 19 May 2011 from 16:30 to 17:30 (Europe/Zurich) at CERN

A miniconference, but still a step in the right direction. “The aim of this research group is to create theory and experiments to produce at least one, or several, candidate evolving protocells in the next decade.”

While physicists at CERN currently study the origin of the universe and the origin of matter, in the future they may be asked to help crack the origin of life too. On May 20, a small group of chemists and biologists gathered at CERN for a brainstorming workshop discussing ideas about the origin of life, and to hear from CERN experts about how to organize a scientific community from disparate research groups and how to access powerful computational resources.

“There is a serious risk that the answer to the question ‘How on Earth has life appeared on Earth?’ will mainly remain in the realm of philosophy for the years to come unless we can take definitive scientific approaches,” said Stuart Kauffman, an American molecular biologist and complexity theorist who co-organized the workshop with Markus Nordberg, resources coordinator at ATLAS, one of the largest experiments at CERN.

Kauffman and his colleagues believe that the crucial step towards life was the formation of autocatalytic sets. An autocatalytic set is a group of molecules which undergo chemical reactions in which some of the molecules catalyze - that is, significantly increase the rate at which the reaction takes place - other reactions in the set. Importantly, though, all molecules mutually catalyze each other’s creation, meaning that autocatalytic sets are ‘self-sustaining’. It’s thought that molecular reproduction and protocells then emerge from such a system.

The text in Cern: called together by Ignatios Antoniadis/PH-TH & Markus Nordberg/PH-ADO.

Work on the Origin of Life is poised to converge onto a fourth phase and, many of us hope, success.

The first phase concerned prebiotic synthesis of the small molecules, amino acids, nucleotides, lipids and others, essential for life and spanned some forty years.

The second overlapping phase was inspired by the symmetric of the DNA or RNA double helix, presumed that life must necessarily be based on some form of template replication of one strand by ligation of free nucleotides to create the second strand, melting of the two strands and cycling again. Spearheaded by L. Orgel, but with many others, this effort has, to date, failed.

The third phase begins with the discovery that RNA molecules can act as enzymes, and posited the RNA world, in which RNA molecules dominated. This has led to slightly successful efforts to evolve an RNA sequence able to template replicate itself. Current success is an evolved ribozyme able to do so for 14 nucleotides.

The forth phase is converging around four ideas: 1) liposomes, hollow bilipid spheres obtainable from lipids in water, can grow and divide. We now widely hope that these can serve as “containers” bounding proto-cells. 2) Sources of free energy, from pyrophosphate to proton pumps. 3) A minimal metabolism in a “messy” systems chemistry which supplies the small amino acids, nucleotides and lipids for proto -life. 4) Collectively autocatalytic sets of polymers, peptides, RNA, or other, which achieve molecular reproduction in dividing liposome containers, hence also open ended evolution. At present, a 9 peptide collectively autocatalytic set has been constructend, achieving catalytic closure, and demonstrated beyond doubt that the DNA or RNA double helix is not needed for molecular reproduction. In addition a two membered DNA autocatalytic set has been constructed and two two membered RNA ribozyme autocatalytic sets have been selected from a large RNA library.

The author, in 1971 and 1986 proposed a theory in which the emergence of collectively autocatalytic sets is a first order phase transition as the diversity of polymers that are also candidates to catalyse the reactions they undergo, increases in diversity. Recent theorems have improved upon this initial model, simulations have shown that small collectively autocatalytic sets can emerge in this process and grow together, and also that, in the presence of inhibition of catalysis and if contained in duplicating containers, can indeed serve as plausible protocells able to evolve indefinitely.

The author has gathered some 17 scientists from around the world to collaborate and compete with one another, CERN/LHC experiments style, in a generative scientific environment.

http://indico.cern.ch/event/137302

Kauffmans talk (bad quality, webcam only):
"The current status of work on the origin of life"

“For a long time, it has been debated how likely it is that such autocatalytic sets exist in arbitrary chemical reaction systems,” said Wim Hordijk, a computational and bioinformatics specialist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

“If I randomly throw a bunch of molecules together, and let them react according to the possible reactions between them, can I expect to see one or more of these autocatalytic sets? Some researchers believe they are very likely to occur. Others believe that it is almost impossible that they appear in a random chemistry – similar, they sometimes argue, to the question of what the probability is that a whirlwind blowing through a scrap yard will put together a Boeing 747,” Hordijk said.

Analyzing autocatalytic sets

Until now, little mathematical analysis has been done on this question. But recently, Hordijk developed computer models to explore possibilities and scenarios for autocatalytic sets, in the hope that it could help others figure out how to set up laboratory experiments that would otherwise be too expensive and time-consuming without this prior knowledge.

“So far we have used our own personal computers or relatively small computer cluster to run our simulations on. However, we have already run into limitations in terms of available computing power,” Hordijk said.

Hordijk and his colleague Mike Steel have developed a model of a chemical reaction system where the probability of an arbitrary molecule being a catalyst for an arbitrary reaction was two in a million, a probability that is “chemically plausible” he said. Running this model on the LHC computing grid, he found that, with this level of catalysis, a set of about 65,000 different molecule types or more will have a high probability of forming an autocatalytic set. This is actually reasonable for a chemist in a laboratory to test, he said.

“We are hoping to use the computing grid to perform [future] simulations and analyses, which would enable us to go much further and deeper than we have been able to do so far. We have already done some small test runs just to make sure our software runs on the LHC grid [facilitated by the ATLAS experiment], which seems to be the case,” Hordijk happily reported.

Other areas being explored include self-reproducing RNA, ‘metabolism first’ theories and self-reproducing liposomes - small vesicles formed when lipid molecules, like fats and oils, align to make a membrane. Almost all the theoretical work is underpinned by complex models that would need large-scale computing power.

There are several options for computing power available out there, Bob Jones, project director of CERN’s openlab told the group, including other grid infrastructures, supercomputers, clouds and volunteer computing.

“New science can arise in unexpected ways”

"Our group of seven origin of life workers, representing an initial group of 22 of the top researchers in the field, were truly thrilled by our CERN meeting,” said Kauffman. “If CERN wishes it, we hope to become a small part of the CERN world, for the origin of life is itself a problem in physics. New science can arise in unexpected ways."

First, however, the Origin of Life group needs to make a formal proposal for such a project, and CERN must agree formally to support the work. “We hope this occurs. Such approval will help drive an international effort in origin of life research,” Kauffman said.


So, no results from here in several years.

torsdag 24 februari 2011

Carbon complexity and origin of life.

Carbon is primordial!
“We don’t know how diamonds grow. There are diamonds the size of potatoes, but where did they come from?” Hazen said. Diamonds shoot up through the crust from a depth of 100 kilometers “without getting degraded into graphite. It must happen in an hour,” mineralogists believe. “How do fluids move that fast?”

The Hunt For Earth's Missing Carbon the 'most important element' on Earth.

The Deep Carbon Observatory aims to reshape our fundamental understanding of carbon's role in the biology, chemistry, and physics of Earth's interior. Carbon is among the most important chemical elements to humans. It forms the basis of life as we know it, is the central ingredient in many energy sources and plays a key part in our climate. In a planetary-scale machine called the carbon cycle, the element circulates among the oceans and atmosphere, into and out of the Earth's crust, and through living creatures. But even this immense cycle is thought to contain only a small part of total amount of carbon in our planet, with the rest locked deep beneath the surface. The goal of the project is to answer basic science questions, but industry already has its eyes on the research.

Eric Betz, 20.2.11. Inside Science News Service writes:
Deep beneath the surface of the Earth, a vast and unseen community of strange, microscopic lifeforms quietly subsists on the heat rising from our planet's interior.
In its total mass, this life might rival all that walks, crawls, stands, swims and soars above it, but scientists don't know for sure. Life has already been found in the deepest layer of Earth's crust, nearly one mile down, but scientists expect to find life thriving even deeper. Studying mysteries like this one is a task for the Deep Carbon Observatory, a new project that will search out not just life but everything carbon-related that lies beneath our feet.
“Twenty years ago, the idea that there was a deep underground biosphere would have been laughed at, now know there is, because anywhere you drill you find life. We're learning fascinating things about a biosphere that lives in very different conditions than we're familiar with.”

Scientists believe that the subterranean microbes, some of them isolated from Earth's surface since before the dawn of humanity, crucially influence the engines that drive our planet's interior. The microbes process carbon relatively quickly, making them an important step in the carbon cycle.

“Science is not cataloging all the things we know, it's exploring the things we don't know.”
  • Carbon Cycle at Depth, by Katrina Edwards, USC, explains how isotopic evidence indicates that a deep biosphere of microbes both scrubs ocean fluids of organic matter and produces new, yet old, organic carbon in situ.
  • Carbon Below the Sea Floor, by Dave Goldberg, LDEO, explores how basalt sills at young seafloor spreading centers may heat overlying sediments inducing natural carbon release while basalt flows elsewhere may serve to sequester anthropogenic carbon.
  • Bassez, M., Is high-pressure water the cradle of life, J. Phys.: Condens. Mat. 15, L353-L361, 2003.
  • More publications here.
Did deep biochemistry play a central role in life’s origins?
White paper.
Surprising discoveries of deep microbial life in terrestrial and oceanic environments point to a rich subsurface biota that, by some estimates, may rival all surface life in total biomass. Though many key discoveries have been made, we don’t know how life adapts to deep environments, what novel biochemical pathways sustain life at high P-T, or the extreme limits of life. Life holds only a small fraction of Earth’s carbon, yet biological cycling of carbon is relatively rapid.

Microbes are the principal innovators of Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Their cell numbers in terrestrial and aquatic environments exceed 5 X 10^30 organisms with cellular carbon in excess of 10^17 grams. Yet we know very little about the abundance, distribution, diversity and activity of deep subsurface microbial life. One recent study indicates that deep subsurface life can persist in complete isolation: fixing its own carbon and nitrogen and living in complete indifference to photosynthesis-derived organics and O2. Such discoveries demand a profound recalibration of long-held principles of biology and ecology.
Carbon dynamics.
The dynamics in planet scale is poorly understood. The situation suggests that some very important piece might be missing from the existing models.

Pitkänen, Quantum Astrophysics: The vision about dark matter as a quantum phase with a gigantic Planck constant is an excellent candidate for this missing piece.
The hierarchy of Planck constants is realized by generalizing the notion of imbedding
space such that one has a book like structure with various almost-copies of imbedding space glued together like pages of book. Each page of book correspond to a particular level of dark matter hierarchy and darkness means that there are no Feynman diagrams in which particles with different value of Planck constant would appear. The interactions between di erent levels of hierarchy involve the transfer of the particles mediating the interaction between di erent pages of the book. Physically this means a phase transition changing the value of Planck constant assignable to the particle so that particle's quantum size is scaled. At classical level the interactions correspond to the leakage of magnetic and electric fluxes and radiation fields between di fferent pages of the book.

Quantum cosmology predicts that astrophysical objects do not follow cosmic expansion except in jerk-wise quantum leaps increasing the value of the gravitational Planck constant. This assumption provides explanation for the apparent cosmological constant. Also planets are predicted to expand in this manner. This provides a new version of Expanding Earth theory (R/2) originally postulated to explain the intriguing findings suggesting that continents have once formed a connected continent covering the entire surface of Earth but with radius which was one half of the recent one.
The most modern version of Expanding Earth theory is by Australian geologist Samuel W. Carey. He calculated that in Cambrian period (about 500 million years ago) all continents were stuck together and covered the entire Earth. Deep seas began to evolve then.
Physics and Chemistry of Carbon.
At their September 2010 meeting, the DCO Founders Committee voted to create this fourth directorate to focus on the physics and chemistry of deep carbon and carbon under extreme conditions.

White paper.
Excerpts.
One of the main goals of DCO is to understand the present distribution of carbon throughout Earth (core, mantle, and surface) as a result of processes active during planetary accretion and the subsequent thermal and chemical evolution of Earth. During Earth’s formation, volatiles were incorporated by accreting planetesimals. Initially, the growth of small planetesimals did not involve significant heating; toward the end stages of the generation of (possibly mutltiple) magma oceans. The solubility of carbon and other volatiles in the magma ocean and the depth of the magma ocean determine how much carbon remains within the mantle and how much is outgassed to the atmosphere as the magma ocean cools.

It is generally accepted that the origin of methane and related light hydrocarbons found in surface and near-surface reservoirs is due to one of two mechanistic pathways: microbial-based digestion of organic matter or by thermal degradation of organic compounds. This long-held view has been challenged by reports of high-temperature methane-rich fluids venting from sediment-poor mid-ocean ridges, hydrocarbon seepages from terrestrial regions dominated by ultramafic rocks, methane-bearing fluids from Precambrian shields, and fluid inclusions in mantle and igneous rocks. Geochemical indicators, such as CH4/C2H6 + C3H8) ratios, and carbon and hydrogen isotope compositions of methane, heretofore thought to be adequate for distinguishing methane of different origins, have been brought into question for certain hydrocarbon occurrences.

In the context of the carbon cycle the origin and behavior of both oxidized and reduced carbon species are certainly better understood for near-surface reservoirs compared to the deep Earth where the distribution and behavior are poorly constrained. It is clear, however, that a fundamental knowledge of deep Earth carbon is necessary because of its potential impact on geodynamic processes and because of the influence of the deep carbon cycle on surface processes such as secular variations in atmospheric composition and the rate of production of hydrocarbon deposits.

Thermodynamics of Carbon-bearing systems.
A large integrated experimental-theoretical effort is needed to compile reliable thermodynamic data for the (C, H, O, salt) system and the solubility of carbon dissolved as a trace constituent in other phases under the conditions of the deep earth.

To explore the relationship between deep biosphere life and climate.
An improved understanding of the origin and reaction history of methane.
The magnitude of kinetic vs. equilibrium fractionations and effect of T on isotopologues

Geobiochemistry.
How does life interact with its environment, by changing the chemistry of fluids, by catalyzing reactions and mineral growth, and by generating or destroying porosity. Production and processing of nanoparticles produced via biochemical pathways. To find a global minimum structure (as might be present in the natural system) requires a search over configuration space. As the number of degrees of freedom grows the problem becomes intractable. The electrons in these materials are often highly correlated and their correct description might require higher level electronic structure calculations and in some cases new theory.

An area important to the understanding of life processes that has not received much attention is the simulation of bioenzyme reaction mechanisms and their effect on the carbon cycle (e.g., RNA self replication in prebiotic systems effects of mineral surfaces, the exoenzymes involved respiration based on iron minerals, etc). There has been impressive progress at the microbiological level (discovering what is happening) but much less progress on the chemical mechanism (why and how these reaction work, e.g., the atomic level biochemical mechanisms). First principles methods have been used in such applications in pharmaceutical drug design research. Similar concepts and calculations can be applied to the analysis of complex biogeochemical processes in extreme environments. The deeper understanding of the enzyme mechanisms obtained should improve the understanding of the chemistry utilized by living systems in extreme conditions of temperature, pressure and under anaerobic conditions. The better understanding of key enzyme reaction would support the development of biomimetric pathways in enhanced energy recovery strategies (e.g., the better understanding of the mechanism of carbonic anhydrase should lead to more efficient CO2 sequestration strategies).

Remarkably little is known about the physical chemistry of carbon in salt water in equilibrium with minerals at pressures of the deep crust and mantle. This is a major knowledge gap closely related also to thermodynamics and kinetics.

Starting with water itself, we need experimental measurements and theoretical calculations of the fundamental properties of water, water-CO2, and water-CH4 mixtures, including in the presence of salt. Specifically the dielectric constant and the dissociation constant of water at pressures greater than 5.0 kbars and at elevated temperatures are needed.

Theoretical and experimental studies of the potential role of metastability in mineral-water-hydrocarbon systems at elevated temperatures and pressures must be undertaken. Methane (like other hydrocarbons) is not thermodynamically stable but merely metastable over a large range of P, T conditions where it is observed or inferred to exist. It is unknown how high in temperature and pressure this metastability and/or kinetically inhibited stability persists. Incorporation of the results obtained above for water into the databases of chemical mass transfer codes would enable quantitative modelling of mineral-water interactions at high T and P. Specifically, the role of the oxygen fugacity fO2 (or hydrogen fugacity fH2) in such systems in influencing the relative metastabilities of different C-bearing species could be addressed.

Similar knowledge deficiencies plague our understanding of carbonate mineral formation and destruction. Carbonate mineral formation is critical to removing and storing carbon in both the shallow Earth (soils, sediment), and the deep Earth. Whether and how carbonates form, and their rates and mechanisms of precipitation and dissolution, all affect how the climate system works over geologic timescales.

There is good evidence that indicates that over geologic time the rates of sediment delivery have changed, controlled by changing tectonic and climatic triggers. What is unknown is whether modern sediments now entering the ocean are typical of the flux over longer periods of time and how much organic carbon has been locked up in these. Transformative understanding of the carbon cycle and the role of deep carbon will depend on our ability to characterize and describe it in terms of complex structures and their reorganization — i.e. interrogation of “dissipative structures.” In particular we need to quantify the consequences of both positive and negative feedback processes on carbon distributions among key reservoirs such as the atmosphere, oceans, continental waters (e.g. rivers, lakes) and the crust.

About carbon/carbomers.

Carbomers have the ability to absorb, retain water and swell to many times their original volume, used as thickening, dispersing (a dispersing agent or a plasticizer is either a non-surface active polymer or a surface-active substance added to a suspension, usually a colloid, to improve the separation of particles and to prevent settling or clumping), suspending and emulsifying agents.
Two representations exist for carbo-benzene. one has the aromatic core of benzene expanded, and one has the hydrogen substituents expanded. The substituted benzene derivative hexaethynylbenzene is a known compound, and the core-expanded molecule also exists, although with the hydrogen atoms replaced by phenyl groups. The final step in its organic synthesis is reaction of the triol with stannous chloride and hydrochloric acid in diethyl ether.

Did intra-terrestrial life burst to the surface of Earth during Cambrian expansion?
Intra-terrestrial hypothesis about the evolution of life is a prediction inTGD. Could the harsh pre-Cambrian conditions have allowed only intra-terrestrial multicellular life? Could the Cambrian explosion correspond to the moment of birth for this life in the very concrete
sense that the magma flow brought it into the day-light? Very many life forms of Cambrian explosion looked like final products of a long evolutionary process. It is quite possible that Earth's mantle contained low temperature water pockets, where the complex life forms might have evolved in an environment shielded from meteoric bombardment and UV radiation.

The vision known as RNA world.
It is assumed that RNA polymers serve all the basic functions associated with DNA, RNA and amino-acids. These functions are based on genetic and catalytic capacity of RNA. Later a genetic takeover occurred involving the emergence of DNA and genetic code in which amino-acids replaced RNA somehow. RNA seems able to serve synthetizing, transfer, messenger and ribosomal functions so that it can guide both its own replication and ordered polymerization of proteins.

King, view of complex systems, the basic mechanisms developed without genetic control and were nally taken under control as the genetic takeover occurred. These kind of generic
structures include proteins and nuclei acids, nucleotide coenzymes, bilayered membrane structures, ion transport and membrane excitability, membrane bound electron transport, glycolysis and the citric acide cycle. In TGD framework one can add to this list topologically quantized classical fields as universal structures. Atoms like C, N, and O and smaller amounts of P and S giving rise to bio-monomers, and metals like Al, Fe, and Zn are the basic building blocks. The formation of various chemical bonds like hydrogen bonds, covalent bonds, and peptide bonds is necessary.
Dr. Cairns-Smith has proposed that so called clay genes appeared as predecessors of genes.