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HEATING BATHS. "Life does not violate the second law of thermodynamics, but until recently, physicists were unable to use thermodynamics to explain why it should arise in the first place. The systems are strongly driven by an external energy source such as an electromagnetic wave, and they can dump heat into a surrounding bath. This class of systems includes all living things." https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/ View in LinkedIn

OPEN SYSTEMS. "Although entropy must increase over time in an isolated or “closed” system, an “open” system can keep its entropy low — that is, divide energy unevenly among its atoms — by greatly increasing the entropy of its surroundings. In his influential 1944 monograph “What Is Life?” the eminent quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger argued that this is what living things must do." https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/ View in LinkedIn

FORMULA OF LIFE. "The formula, based on established physics, indicates that when a group of atoms is driven by an external source of energy (like the sun or chemical fuel) and surrounded by a heat bath (like the ocean or atmosphere), it will often gradually restructure itself in order to dissipate increasingly more energy. This could mean that under certain conditions, matter inexorably acquires the key physical attribute associated with life." https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/ View in LinkedIn

ENERGY CAPTURE. "From the standpoint of physics, there is one essential difference between living things and inanimate clumps of carbon atoms: The former tend to be much better at capturing energy from their environment and dissipating that energy as heat." https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/ View in LinkedIn

SO ENDS this dalliance into flower structure, which will conclude next weekend. Flowers are complex both developmentally and from an evolutionary viewpoint. But a small set of parts, by virtue of fusion and non-fusion, can generate a wide range of floral complexity. That simplicity can beget complexity is true across nature, from amino acids and proteins, the limited pallet of the elements, to crystal types. In all cases, a small starting set generates remarkable diversity of form. View in LinkedIn

NEW STRUCTURES. "Finally, fusion events within the canonical perianth whorls may result in the formation of novel boundary regions, resulting in additional floral whorls; the corona, a novel organ that forms between the perianth and the androecium, is prominent in several monocot and core eudicot lineages as a result of novel boundary generation between the petal and stamen whorls." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

FUSION FUNCTIONS. "Functionally, the fusion of perianth organs can offer protection in bud as well as promoting specific associations to enhance pollination. Fusion of stamens and petals may also present opportunities for the emergence of elaborations on petals and staminodes that play a major role in nectar production and canalization for purposes of effective pollination." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

TWO PROCESSES. "Sympetaly itself involves the combination of two developmental processes: meristem fusion of petal primordia; and the establishment of an intercalary meristem that produces a floral tube via intercalary elongation. Perianth synorganization can include fusion of petals alone, or can unite the petals with the stamens into a floral tube, resulting in concerted evolution of floral form." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

PETAL FUSIONS. "Fusion of the petals (sympetaly) characterizes the asterids and especially the euasterids, but also occurs independently in some monocots, early diverging eudicots (e.g. some Ranunculaceae) and core eudicots (e.g. Malvaceae, Rosaceae)." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn

TIMING OUTCOMES. "Late fusion occurs when the primordia appear as distinct early on but the individual organs eventually fuse during development, often at the base, leaving the tips of the primordia free (usually found in asterids). By contrast, early fusion occurs when the fused organs appear first as a ring meristem or fascicle on which individual organ primordia appear later (usually found in rosids); thus, the base of the organs are fused from inception." https://lnkd.in/dD4GcAS View in LinkedIn