This coming Sunday, March 15th, Professor Jeff G Wardeska will present “The Origins of Life, Order, and the Second Law."
Julie Wade, in her recent series on Darwinian Medicine, highlighted the amazing diversity of biological cells, such as our microbiome, as well as biological cells in more complex organisms. These cells have an amazingly complex organization of the molecules that provide the necessary basis for functioning. These molecules currently are made within the cells or are obtained from their food. But, chemists ask; when the very first cells formed several billion years ago, where did they find these molecules, and is there a physical explanation for evolution’s apparent drive towards increasingly complex species? We often hear that “nature loves order”, (flowers, six sided snowflakes, etc.) but the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that for any process which occurs spontaneously, there is an increase in the disorder of the universe. In this two-part series, we will attempt to relate these concepts to the evolutionary process.
Julie Wade, in her recent series on Darwinian Medicine, highlighted the amazing diversity of biological cells, such as our microbiome, as well as biological cells in more complex organisms. These cells have an amazingly complex organization of the molecules that provide the necessary basis for functioning. These molecules currently are made within the cells or are obtained from their food. But, chemists ask; when the very first cells formed several billion years ago, where did they find these molecules, and is there a physical explanation for evolution’s apparent drive towards increasingly complex species? We often hear that “nature loves order”, (flowers, six sided snowflakes, etc.) but the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that for any process which occurs spontaneously, there is an increase in the disorder of the universe. In this two-part series, we will attempt to relate these concepts to the evolutionary process.
Editors comment: This talk promises to be profound and entertaining as it is based on a truly amazing hypothesis put forth by a young scientist at MIT. Please join us.
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