Living things are complex assemblages of more basic material building blocks that operate far from thermal and chemical equilibrium, deploying energy harvested from the surrounding environment to resist the twin draws of equilibration and disorganization. Understanding the physics of such a process draws on a diversity of topics in dynamical systems theory and statistical mechanics, including aging in glasses, the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of information processing, the stability of attractors in disordered systems exhibiting mixed chaos, and many-variable optimization. By listing the preceding topics, we are encouraging physics researchers to realize that many of the phenomena most distinctive to life – energy harvesting, predictive computation, self-replication, robustness, and self-repair – rely on physics that has often already been studied extensively in other guises. Some examples of research challenges that might exemplify progress on this frontier are:
- Produce a reaction mixture of diverse molecules that predict accurately a complex pattern of external stimulus.
- Provide a physical proof of principle for a self-replicator who components are synthesized according to a heritable set of “instructions” but where the instructions are not a polymer.
- Demonstrate selective control over energy absorption properties of the ensemble of product molecules in diversity-oriented synthesis.
This call, which was designed with the help of expert consultation from Jeremy England, invites appropriately trained researchers from any of the topics listed above who are motivated to tackle these or other bold ideas for understanding how nonequilibrium physics can contribute new understanding to life as an outcome of the non-living universe:
Click here to apply to this to this Ideas Lab workshop
This aspect of the call for applicants was generated through expert consultation with Jeremy England (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
For more information on eligibility, scoring, and other terms and conditions please contact physicstolifequestions@umbc.edu
