Life at the edge: complexity and criticality in biological function

TL;DR

This paper explores the origins of biological complexity through the lens of critical phenomena, analyzing brain dynamics, protein fluctuations, and mitochondrial networks to understand how criticality underpins biological functions.

Contribution

It introduces a multidisciplinary approach applying critical phenomena theory to explain biological complexity across different scales.

Findings

Brain dynamics exhibit signatures of criticality.

Spontaneous protein fluctuations can be characterized by critical phenomena.

Mitochondrial networks display properties consistent with critical systems.

Abstract

Why life is complex and --most importantly-- what is the origin of the over abundance of complexity in nature? This is a fundamental scientific question which, paraphrasing the late Per Bak, "is screaming to be answered but seldom is even being asked". In these lectures we review recent attempts across several scales to understand the origins of complex biological problems from the perspective of critical phenomena. To illustrate the approach three cases are discussed, namely the large scale brain dynamics, the characterisation of spontaneous fluctuations of proteins and the physiological complexity of the cell mitochondria network.