Introducing Biological Energetics: How Energy and Information Control the Living World. Norman W. H. Cheetham

Photochemically induced cyclic morphological dynamics via degradation of autonomously produced, self-assembled polymer vesicles

“…iving systems (LSs) (i) process information 1 , (ii) metabolize 2,3 , (iii) self-reproduce 4 , and (iv) evolve 5 . They exist in a fluctuating environment to which they adapt and are thermodynamically open systems working at both the individual and population levels.…”

“…Analysis of (i)-(iv) indicates one such common attribute: they depend on the presence of finite free-energy gradients [1][2][3][4][5] . To a first approximation the presence of a (somewhat permeable) membrane enclosing the chemical components of the LS could accomplish this.…”