Experimental studied on growing chemical organisms (original) (raw)

The subject of this conference is: 'Attempts to design and build artificial systems that display properties of organisms'. Two hundred years ago, the philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote the following: 'Property of life: A self-propagating organization of processes.' The difference between biological organisms and the complex chemical systems made by humans cannot be underestimated. The former contain such a large number of physical and chemical processes, each marked by incredible spatial and temporal organization and preciseness, that as of yet, their artificial reproduction is unachievable. There remains, in addition, a gulf between biological growth and human controlled technology. These methods are not compatible. Human built complex chemical systems are assembled, whereas the biological systems are grown. Even the simplest biological cell cannot be disassembled and later reconstructed as if it were an AK-47. Few known phenomena show promise of bridging this gulf; one of these is the 'Chemical Garden'. In such systems, chemical reactions between a few elements drive fluid flow to spontaneously form precipitation structures. These structures can be grown from a 'seed`, and the specific structure produced closely correlates to the composition of the seed and the environment. Chemical gardens have growth trajectories that span a vast morphological space, which includes hierarchical structures and also structures that move (chemical motors). Among the first works devoted to these systems was published by Leduc in 1911 under the title "The Mechanism of Life" 1. Leduc recognized the similarity of chemical gardens with biological systems and believed that this similarity could teach us something about the origin of life. In his book, he wrote that "The study of synthetic biology is therefore the study of physical forces and conditions which can produce cavities surrounded by osmotic membranes… and specialized their functions of living beings." Examples of the structures that can be grown in this manner are presented below. Figure1: Examples of complex structures that grow in simple chemical systems.