Recent Additions: New and Updated Entries in the Past 60 Days
Displaying entries 16 through 30 of 46 found.

Ecosmos: A Revolutionary Fertile, Habitable, Solar-Bioplanet, Incubator Lifescape

Scrutton, Nigel, et al. Transitioning enzyme catalysis towards photocatalysis. Philosophical Transactions A. May, 2025. In a special Science into the next millennium: 25 years on’ issue which compares the state of 2025 research with earlier 2000 entries, veteran University of Manchester chemists record the broad extent that enzyme biocatalysis has been found to take in life’s metabolism. See also Fundamental physics, existential risks and human futures by Adrian Kent and Computational modelling of biological systems by Axel Loewe in this edition.

Enzyme biocatalysis offers routes to chemical transformations that avoid expensive metal catalysts, high temperatures and pressures, while providing enantio-, regio- and chemo-selectivities. Here, we review the emergence of photobiocatalysis as a new frontier of natural photoenzymes. We consider repurposing natural enzymes as photobiocatalysts and discuss their de novo design which as a general concept would transform catalysis science. (Excerpt)

Kwok, Sun. Chemical Synthesis in the Circumstellar Environment. Galaxies.. 13/2, 2025. The University of British Columbia astrochemist (search) continues his studies which by now well attest to nature’s innate fertile propensity to seed and spawn a conducive ecosmos with increasingly appropriate bioprecursor molecules on their evolutionary way wherever possible.

We discuss the spectral distinctions between stars and compact planetary nebulae. Infrared and millimeter-wave observations have identified many inorganic and organic molecules in the circumstellar environment. There is evidence that aromatic/aliphatic nanoparticles are synthesized during the proto-planetary nebulae phase of evolution. Their ejection into the interstellar medium may have enriched the primordial Solar System, along with comets, asteroids, and satellites.

Complex organics have been detected in a Galaxy dated 13 billion years ago suggesting that biosynthesis had started as early as 800 million years after the Big Bang. A better understanding of the origin of these organics is central to our picture of the chemical evolution of the Universe and may be relevant to the problem of the origin of life

Wordsworth, Robin, et al. Applied Astrobiology: An Integrated Approach to the Future of Life in Space. . . Astrobiology., 2025. Some sixteen coauthors including Adam Frank, Esther Dyson, Peter Girguis, David Grinspoon, Sara Seager and Dimitri Sasselov propose a wnole spacescape which blends our potential human interstellar presence with a profusion of exoplanet biosigns.

Searching for extraterrestrial life and supporting human life in space are traditionally regarded as separate challenges. However, there are significant benefits to an approach that treats them as different aspects of the same essential problem: How can we conceptualize life beyond our home planet?

Arthur, Rudy, et al.. . Life on the Edge: Using Planetary Context to Enhance Biosignatures and Avoid False Positives.. arXiv:2504.18431.. University of Exeter astroscholars including Arwin Nicholson (search RA) draw on their extensive Gaia-like Earth system studies to propose careful, specific ways of detecting and evaluating exoplanet bioatmospheres. See also Prospects for Detecting Signs of Life on Exoplanets in the JWST Era by Sara Seager et al at arXiv:2504.12946 and Comparative Biosignatures by Teraza, Constantinou, et al at arXiv:2505.01512 for more considerations.

We use a probability theory framework to discuss the search for biosignatures which allows us to analyse biosignatures to provide convincing evidence of extraterrestrial life. Our perspective of functional planetary views opens to a “peribiosignatures” concept, based on past Gaia studies, where life is unlikely. Finally, we discuss the implications of context dependence on observational strategy, suggesting that searching the edges of the habitable zone rather than the middle might be more likely to provide convincing evidence of life. (Abstract)

Vidotto, Aline. Star–Planet Interactions: A Computational View. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics.. Volume 63, 2025. A Leiden Observatory professor and SPI group leader presents the latest evidential findings which convey and quantify how whole dynamic solar systems possess an overall physical identity. See also A Resonant Beginning for the Solar System Terrestrial Planets by this Leiden effort at arXiv:2506.04164.

There are several physical processes between an exoplanet and its host star such as magnetic forces, stellar outflow, radiative and tidal. Their strengths depend on the architecture of planetary systems, as well as the age and activity of the solar center. Here, I present an overview of star-planet interactions which vary in time from hours to giga-years related to planetary orbital motion, rotation and stellar flares, cycles and long-term evolution. I advocate that future 3D models should be informed by multi-wavelength, (near-)simultaneous observations. (Excerpt)

I covered three main SPI types which are mediated by stellar magnetism: radiative interactions expand exoplanetary atmospheres, particle flows are affected by the stellar wind and magnetic connections between stellar and planetary field lines. The strength of the SPI depends on the architecture of planetary systems, as well as the age and activity of the host stars. (36)

Cmiel, Jessica, et al. Characterizing the Radiative-Convective Structure of Dense Rocky Planet Atmospheres.. arXiv:2505.00775. This 2025 entry by Harvard astroscientists describes extensive quantifications of the early Earth crustal ground to gaseous envelope environment. As these findings attest, they identify another still more Goldilocks just-right conditions for living systems to appear, survive, evolve and reach their present retrospect. See also A cool runaway greenhouse without surface magma ocean by Franck Selsis, et al in Nature (620/287, 2023).

We use a radiative-convective model to simulate hot, dense terrestrial-planet atmospheres. We find that strong shortwave absorption by H2O and CO2 inhibits near-surface convection, which reduces surface temperatures compared to convective predictions. We also show that greenhouse gases such as SO2 and NH3 have a limited warming effect. Our results highlight the role of shortwave heating on magma ocean planets and the need for improved high-temperature spectroscopy. (Excerpt).

Mitrašinović, Ana, et al. Revisiting the bimodality of galactic habitability in IllustrisTNG. arXiv:2505.11048. Astronomical Observatory, Belgrade, Serbia searchers including Branislav Vukotić, and Milan Ćirković describe the latest abilities by which a wide array of galaxy neighborhoods could be quantified as hospitable to animate, evolutionary systems.

The potential of galaxy-scale evolution and cosmological processes to host habitable planets is central to astrobiology. Using IllustrisTNG (a series of cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical simulations to illuminate the physical processes that drive galaxy formation) we revisit the mass-metallicity relation for small, metal-rich, star-forming galaxies as an indicator of enhanced galactic habitability. This research underscores the need for a holistic approach to studying habitability that moves beyond planetary and stellar-focused frameworks to incorporate the broader galactic environment. (Excerpt)

Ecosmomics: Independent Complex Network Systems, Computational Programs, Genetic Ecode Scripts

Mendes, José Fernando. Complexities: An Open Access Journal for the Field of Complex Systems. Complexities. 1/1, 2025. As the quotes say, this posting introduces a new MDPI journal on nature’s intrinsic, universal, mathematical interconnective animations. A further incentive is to then be able to apply such findings to mitigate intense public health and welfare problems.

Complex systems are embedded everywhere in natural and artificial processes from ecosystems to social networks. Their phenomena is defined by interconnectivity, non-linear behaviors, and emergent properties, where the whole exceeds the sum of its parts. Our intent in this unique, dedicated journal is to provide a platform for innovative research in areas such as systems theory, network science, non-linear dynamics, computational complexity, and quantum complexity. Advanced computational tools and extensive datasets now exist for modeling emergence, multi-agent interactions and finding hidden patterns. At the same time, global issues such as pandemics and economies benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative approaches.

Prof. Dr. José Fernando Mendes is a distinguished Portuguese physicist known work in network theory and complex systems. He earned his PhD from the University of Porto and currently holds a Full Professorship at the University of Aveiro. He served as President of the Complex Systems Society (2021–2024) and currently directs the Institute i3N-Aveiro.

Barjuan, Laia, et al. The multiscale self-similarity of the weighted human brain connectome. PLoS Computational Biology. April, 2025. Universitat de Barcelona and Jiangsu University, China neuroscientists including M. Angeles Serrano describe their comprehensive theoretic and empirical findings to date of a cerebral faculty distinguished by local and global recurrent patterns and a best critical balance. This exemplary affirmation can now be traced to and grounded in major physical principles. We then want to highlight this report as a prime instance of the mid 2020s achievement of a universal synthesis.

Anatomical connectivity between brain regions can be mapped to a network representation known as the connectome by way of links, weights, resilience and functions. Yet, these features are not fully understood. In this paper, we elucidate the architecture of multiscale neural nets from empirical data sets to reveal a fractal-like self-similarity in every occasion. This commonality is based on a theoretical renormalization model across all geometric scales. The observed symmetry also represents a signature of criticality states. (Excerpts)

The multiscale self-similarity of human connectomes, along with their modular organization, ensures that spectra representing weak ties are invariant across scales. Critical systems often demonstrate such fractal behavior, reflecting their organization as poised between various phases. Self-organized criticality is seen in non-equilibrium systems with many degrees of freedom which leads us to an evolutionary criticality. (14)

Delabays, Robin, et al. Hypergraph reconstruction from dynamics.. Nature Communications.. 16/2691, 2025. As our cognizance and understanding of nature’s actual organic anatomy and physiology grows apace, University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. ETH Zürich, and the Santa Fe Institute theorists (search RD) introduce another procedure by which to parse these real-world multi-intricate social webworks.

Many methods can now infer the pairwise network structure of an interconnected system from its collective dynamics. Here, we contribute to higher level realms by way of an inference algorithm which reconstructs hypergraphs and simplicial complexes from time-series data. We first benchmark on synthetic data from Kuramoto and Lorenz phases and then use it to describe how non-pairwise interactions shape macroscopic brain dynamics. (Excerpt)

Agüera y Arcas, Blaise, et al. Computational Life: How Well-formed, Self-replicating Programs Emerge from Simple Interaction. arXiv:2406.19108. Google Paradigms of Intelligence Team and University of Chicago conduct exercises that show how certain program languages as they run appear to have a tendency to spontaneously biocomplexify, evolve and emerge lifeward. These digital propensities are then seen to accompany precursor autocatalytic reactions.

The fields of Origin of Life and Artificial Life both question what life is and how it emerges from a distinct set of "pre-life" dynamics. One common feature is a marked shift in dynamics when self-replication appears. In this paper we propose some answers by studying computational substrates by way of programming languages and machine instruction sets. We show that when non self-replicating programs are placed in a conducive environment, that self-replicators tend to arise. We also show how increasingly complex dynamics then continue to emerge. (Excerpt)

Aerts, Diederik, et al. Identifying Quantum Mechanical Statistics in Italian Corpora.. International Journal of Theoretical Physics. 64/136, 2025. As the Free University of Brussels and University of Udine team (search DA) apply their insights to human realms, in this case they report an intrinsic, thematic presence in literary editions. Our natural philoSophia interest then makes note of a textual quality being attributed to nature’s deepest essence.

We present a theoretical and empirical investigation of the statistical behaviour of the words produced by human language. To this aim, we analyse the word distribution of various texts of Italian language selected from a specific literary corpus. We generalise a theory elaborated by ourselves to identify “quantum mechanical statistics.” These results confirm patterns in English language works whereby words together as a consequence of their meaning. (Excerpt)

Camps, Jean-Baptiste, et al. Camps, Jean-Baptiste, et al. On the transmission of texts: written cultures as complex systems.. arXiv:2505.19246. Ecole nationale des chartes Paris, University Paris-Saclay and Ben Guerir, Morocco computational philologists provide a 2020s expansion and deepening of this academic pursuit by recasting literature as an exemplary manifestation of nonlinear, creative phenomena. By turns, our human literary corpora can actually be appreciated and parsed as a natural narrative.

Our knowledge of past cultures relies on recovering and parsing written material. While philologists like us reconstruct text phylogenies, the sources of prior genealogies is an open issue. Here we rethink literary transmission through a complexity science approach which integrates stochastic modelling, computer simulations, and data analysis, akin to statistical physics and evolutionary biology. Thus, we design general models that can account for diachrony and other aspects such as the extinction of branches or trees. (Excerpt)

Finally, the commonality of our models makes it applicable not only to medieval texts, but to any type of cultural transmission. Further investigations should include Western Medieval literature along with other time periods and geographical areas. In this sense, our work calls for the emergence of a new research endeavor dedicated to evolutionary modelling of cultural transmission. (15)

Gong, Wen. A New Exploration into Chinese Characters: From Simplification to Deeper Understanding. arXiv:2502.19428. A City University of Macau scholar posts a unique synthesis across millennia of oriental wisdom, mathematics and geometry and our 2025 intelligent cybersphere frontiers. The achievement is a luminous preview of a Earthuman (East/west, South/north) spatial and temporal textual universality.

This paper presents a novel approach to Chinese characters through the lens of physics, networks, and natural systems. Computational analysis of over 6,000 characters served to identify 422 elemental logographs which exhibit properties of emergent complexity, self-organization, and adaptive resilience. By viewing Chinese characters as a living system, this research can reveal how human cognition organizes and transmits knowledge. This perspective, combined with AI approaches, promises to transform language education from knowledge gain to meaning discovery.

This paper represents a collaborative effort between the author, and a team of AI assistants including Claude 3.3 from Anthropic, Gemini 2 from Google and Qwen2.5-Max from Alibaba. The fusion of human knowledge and software development, physics, and Chinese language with AI capabilities enables the novel perspectives and methodologies presented in this work.

Natural Growth Patterns in Character Evolution Just as natural systems evolve from simple to complex through predictable patterns, Chinese characters follow a similar organic development. The Fibonacci sequence provides an elegant metaphor for how complexity emerges from simplicity in systematic ways. The accompanying images of Fibonacci patterns in nature - from sunflowers to nautilus shells and fern fronds to spiral galaxies - reveal this universal principle of growth and organization. (22)

Dedication This work is dedicated to the late Professor T.D. Lee whose efforts opened doors for many Chinese students to pursue studies in the United States as a bridge between Eastern and Western traditions. His vision and support have enabled countless scholars like myself to contribute to global discourse.

Aschwanden, Markus and Felix Scholkmann. Power Laws Associated with Self-Organized Criticality. arXiv:2505.00748. In this latest posting, Lockheed Martin, Palo Alto and ETH Zurich mathematicians extend and apply some two decades of celestial findings (search MA) of nature’s dynamic proclivity onto an emergent Earthly array from life’s animations to cerebral knowledge. By so doing, another salient proof this year of an universe to humanverse is established.

We investigate the relevance of self-organized criticality (SOC) models in empirical datasets drawn from statistical observations in astrophysics, geophysics, biophysics, sociophysics and informatics. We study 25 interdisciplinary phenomena with event detection and power law methods. We find that the phenomena of solar flares, earthquakes, and forest fires are consistent with the theoretical predictions, while the size distributions of other phenomena are not as conclusive. (Abstract)

What is common to all SOC processes is the fractality, physical scaling laws, power law-like size distributions, and the evolution from an exponential-growth phase to a diffusive-decay phase. In the following we discuss SOC properties grouped by science disciplines (astrophysics, geophysics, biophysics, sociophysics, informatics), as enumerated in Table 1. (6)

SOC processes in biophysics have been proposed such as protein-interaction yeast networks, the metabolism bacterium Escherichia coli and the number of species per genus of mammals. The scale-free topology of protein interaction and metabolic networks and their balance between robustness and fragility are characteristics of SOC. In terms of species, ecological systems could exhibit SOC due to the dynamics of interactions (competition, cooperation) between them and their environment. (7)

Sociophysics is a novel discipline that uses mathematical tools or physical models to understand human groups which can be defined by citizenship, power customers, soldiers in wars, religions, financial net worth and so on. The evolution of a SOC process can be associated with an event which displays an instability or exponential-growth phase and a diffusive decay process. Differences in the power law slope size have been noticed for countries, genocides, famines, epidemics, and climates. (7)

Informatics SOC phenomena have been discovered in literature as well as in global networks by way of computer software. Such studies have found that vocabularies, book sales, family names, citation of papers and more exhibit SO criticalities. The last group of SOC in the discipline of informatics deals with global networks such as telephone calls, internet usage, HTTP size, emails sent and hyperlinks to websites. (8)

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