Connecting Mind and Matter
This book represents the results of 45 years of research carried out by a physical-organic-chemist-turned-theoretical biologist on a wide range of topics, including atomic physics, single-molecule enzymology, whole-cell metabolism, physiology, pharmacology, linguistics, semiotics, and cosmology. For example, it describes probably the first comprehensive molecular theory of the genotype-phenotype coupling based on two key theoretical concepts: (i) the conformon, the conformational wave packet in biopolymers carrying both the free energy and genetic information; and (ii) the intracellular dissipative structures, the chemical concentration waves inside the cell that serve as the immediate drivers of all cell functions. Conformons provide the driving forces for all molecular machines in the cell, and intracellular dissipative structures coordinate intra- and intercellular processes such as gene expression and cell-cell communications.
Cell language is defined as the language living cells use to communicate with one another or within themselves employing molecules as words and texts. One of the predictions made by the cell language theory (CLT) is that there are two forms of genetic information — the Watson–Crick genes transmitting information in time (identified with DNA), and the Prigoginian genes transmitting information in space (identified with RNA expression profiles). The former is analogous to sheet music or written language and the latter is akin to audio music or spoken language, both being coupled by conformons acting as the analog of the pianist. The new theory of DNA structure and function constructed on the basis of CLT can rationally account for most of the puzzling findings recently unearthed by the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project.
Another noteworthy feature of the book is the description and the biomedical applications of the Planckian Distribution Equation (PDE) derived from the blackbody radiation formula discovered by M. Planck in 1900. PDE has been found to fit many longh-tailed histograms generated in atomic physics, molecular biology, cell biology, fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) of human brains, decision-making processes, glottometrics (quantitative study of words and texts), econophysics (study of economics based on the principles of physics), and cosmology. A common mechanism underlying all these processes is thought to be the phenomenon of waving or waves in electromagnetic, mechanical, chemical concentration, and gravitational fields, suggesting (i) that the wave-particle duality principle applies to a much broader range of processes in the Universe than previously thought, and (ii) that all organizations in the Universe involve selecting a subset of processes from randomly available one. This latter finding has led to the formulation of a new measure of order called the Planckian information (IP), the study of which being identified with “infostatistical mechanics” first conceptualized by the author in 2012 and predicted by W. Weaver in 1948.
The Cell Language Theory may have a wide range of applications not only in biomedical sciences including drug discovery research and personalized medicine but also in mind-body research and consciousness studies, thereby ushering in a new era of the integration of natural and human sciences on the one hand and of science and religion on the other.
