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Register a new userNontrivial quantum effects in biology: A skeptical physicists view
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Invited contribution to Quantum Aspects of Life, D. Abbott Ed. (World Scientific, Singapore, 2007).
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Angelo Tartaglia (INAF
, Department of Applied Science andn Technology
, Politecnico di Torino
2019
It is still common wisdom amongst economists, politicians and lay people that economic growth is a necessity of our social systems, at least to avoid distributional conflicts. This paper challenges such belief moving from a purely physical theoretical perspective. It formally considers the constraints imposed by a finite environment on the prospect of continuous growth, including the dynamics of costs. As costs grow faster than production it is easy to deduce a final unavoidable global collapse. Then, analyzing and discussing the evolution of the unequal share of wealth under the premises of growth and competition, it is shown that the increase of inequalities is a necessary consequence of the premises.
We present the novel approach to mathematical modeling of information processes in biosystems. It explores the mathematical formalism and methodology of quantum theory, especially quantum measurement theory. This approach is known as {it quantum-like} and it should be distinguished from study of genuine quantum physical processes in biosystems (quantum biophysics, quantum cognition). It is based on quantum information representation of biosystems state and modeling its dynamics in the framework of theory of open quantum systems. This paper starts with the non-physicist friendly presentation of quantum measurement theory, from the original von Neumann formulation to modern theory of quantum instruments. Then, latter is applied to model combinations of cognitive effects and gene regulation of glucose/lactose metabolism in Escherichia coli bacterium. The most general construction of quantum instruments is based on the scheme of indirect measurement, in that measurement apparatus plays the role of the environment for a biosystem. The biological essence of this scheme is illustrated by quantum formalization of Helmholtz sensation-perception theory. Then we move to open systems dynamics and consider quantum master equation, with concentrating on quantum Markov processes. In this framework, we model functioning of biological functions such as psychological functions and epigenetic mutation.
The Chem2Bio2RDF portal is a Linked Open Data (LOD) portal for systems chemical biology aiming for facilitating drug discovery. It converts around 25 different datasets on genes, compounds, drugs, pathways, side effects, diseases, and MEDLINE/PubMed documents into RDF triples and links them to other LOD bubbles, such as Bio2RDF, LODD and DBPedia. The portal is based on D2R server and provides a SPARQL endpoint, but adds on few unique features like RDF faceted browser, user-friendly SPARQL query generator, MEDLINE/PubMed cross validation service, and Cytoscape visualization plugin. Three use cases demonstrate the functionality and usability of this portal.
Though it goes without saying that linear algebra is fundamental to mathematical biology, polynomial algebra is less visible. In this article, we will give a brief tour of four diverse biological problems where multivariate polynomials play a central role -- a subfield that is sometimes called algebraic biology. Namely, these topics include biochemical reaction networks, Boolean models of gene regulatory networks, algebraic statistics and genomics, and place fields in neuroscience. After that, we will summarize the history of discrete and algebraic structures in mathematical biology, from their early appearances in the late 1960s to the current day. Finally, we will discuss the role of algebraic biology in the modern classroom and curriculum, including resources in the literature and relevant software. Our goal is to make this article widely accessible, reaching the mathematical biologist who knows no algebra, the algebraist who knows no biology, and especially the interested student who is curious about the synergy between these two seemingly unrelated fields.
A series of astronomical observations obtained over the period 1986 to 2018 supports the idea that life is a cosmic rather than a purely terrestrial or planetary phenomenon. These include (1) the detection of biologically relevant molecules in interstellar clouds and in comets, (2) mid-infrared spectra of interstellar grains and the dust from comets, (3) a diverse set of data from comets including the Rosetta mission showing consistency with biology and (4) the frequency of Earth-like or habitable planets in the Galaxy. We argue that the conjunction of all the available data suggests the operation of cometary biology and interstellar panspermia rather than the much weaker hypothesis of comets being only the source of the chemical building blocks of life. We conclude with specific predictions on the properties expected of extra-terrestrial life if it is discovered on Enceladus, Europa or beyond. A radically different biochemistry elsewhere can be considered as a falsification of the theory of interstellar panspermia.
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