Life Sciences



Life Sciences

Theme of Emergent properties Biology can be defined as scientific study of life every level of biological organization has emergent properties. Emergent property is defined as a unique property that comes out when component objects are combined together in constraining relations to create or develop a high level aggregate object. Emergent property is a novel property which unproductively emerges from combination of 2 simpler constituents. Salt can illustrate theme of emergent property for example similar taste of salt is an emergent property with respect to chlorine and sodium of which it is composed. In other words, table salt NaCL (sodium chloride) has various different characteristics when compared with its elements. Chlorine (Cl) is a green gas while Sodium (Na) is a metal but when these elements are chemically combined they form a table salt (NaCl) which is an edible substance.

Emergent property results from interaction between components. Emergent properties are associated with life reproduction, order, energy utilization, growth and development, response to environment, evolutionary adaption, and homeostasis. Emergent property represents one of the most important challenges for engineering of complex systems. They can be considered as unexpected behaviors that stem from interaction between the environment of components and their application. In biology, the emergent properties go like this: cells into tissues, tissues into organs, organs into organs system and finally organ system into animal. An example of emergent property in biology is the individual combination of atoms to create molecules such as polypeptide chains that turn fold and refold to further create proteins (Alberts, 2002). These proteins then assume their functional statue from their spatial conformation. They in order to attain higher biological function interact with each other which eventually create organelles, tissues, cells, organs, organ system, and organism.

Barriers for Selected Reactions

DNA, Proteins and other complex molecules of the cell have potential to decompose and are rich in free energy thus thermodynamic laws favor their breakdown. These molecules persevere only because few molecules at typical temperature for cell can make it over the bump of activation energy. However the barriers for particular reactions should be occasionally overcome for cells to carry essential process required for life. Heat speeds at reaction by allowing reactions to attain transition state but this solution is not appropriate for biological system. initially high temperature will kills cells and denature proteins and then heat will speed up all the other reactions thus catalysis are used to speed up reactions instead to heat (Hoagland, 2001). A reaction is catalyzed b with the help of enzyme by lowering EA barriers. It enables the reaction molecules in moderate temperature to absorb energy to reach to transition state. Delta G cannot be changed with an enzyme, it cannot make spontaneous (exergonic) or non-spontaneous (endergonic ) reactions. Reactions can only be hastened by enzymes but it is a function that makes it possible for the cell to have dynamic metabolism.

Cell Is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts

Cells make up all organization while several organisms and ...