Mark Ritchie on A New Thermodynamics of Biochemistry, Part 2

This week we conclude our two-part discussion with ecologist Mark Ritchie of Syracuse University on how he and his SFI collaborators are starting to rethink the intersections of thermodynamics and biology to better fit our scientific models to the patterns we observe in nature. Most of what we know about the enzymatic processes of plant and animal metabolisms comes from test tube experiments, not studies in the context of a living organism. What changes when we zoom out and think about life’s manufacturing and distribution in situ?Starting where we left off in in Episode 62, we tour the implications of Mark’s biochemistry research and ask: What can studying the metabolism of cells tell us about economics? How does a better model of photosynthesis change the way we think about climate change and the future of agriculture? Why might a pattern in the failure of plant enzymes help biologists define where to direct the search for life in space?A better theory of the physics of biomolecules — and the networks in which they’re embedded — provides a clearer understanding of the limits for all living systems, and how those limits shape effective strategies for navigating our complex world.Welcome to COMPLEXITY, the official podcast of the Santa Fe Institute. I’m your host, Michael Garfield, and every other week we’ll bring you with us for far-ranging conversations with our worldwide network of rigorous researchers developing new frameworks to explain the deepest mysteries of the universe.If you value our research and communication efforts, please subscribe, rate, and review this show at Apple Podcasts, and/or consider making a donation at santafe.edu/give. You can find numerous other ways to engage with us at santafe.edu/engage. Thank you for listening!Join our Facebook discussion group to meet like minds and talk about each episode.Follow us on social media:Twitter • YouTube • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedInRelated Reading & Listening:Ritchie Lab at Syracuse University | Mark’s Google Scholar Page | Mark’s soil ecology startupReaction and diffusion thermodynamics explain optimal temperatures of biochemical reactionsby Mark Ritchie in Scientific ReportsThermodynamics Of Far From Equilibrium Systems, Biochemistry, And Life In A Warming World [Mark Ritchie’s 2021 SFI Seminar + @SFIscience Twitter thread on Mark’s talk]Scale and information-processing thresholds in Holocene social evolutionby Jaeweon Shin, Michael Holton Price, David H. Wolpert, Hajime Shimao, Brendan Tracey & Timothy A. KohlerGeneralized Stoichiometry and Biogeochemistry for Astrobiological Applicationsby Christopher P. Kempes, Michael J. Follows, Hillary Smith, Heather Graham, Christopher H. House & Simon A. Levin Complexity 4: Luis Bettencourt on The Science of CitiesComplexity 5: Jennifer Dunne on Food Webs & ArchaeoEcologyComplexity 17: Chris Kempes on The Physical Constraints on Life & EvolutionComplexity 35: Scaling Laws & Social Networks in The Time of COVID-19 with Geoffrey WestComplexity 41: Natalie Grefenstette on Agnostic Biosignature DetectionAlien Crash Site 15: Cole Mathis on Pathway Assembly and AstrobiologyPodcast theme music by Mitch Mignano.Cover artwork adapted from photos by Peter Nguyen and Torsten Wittmann (UCSF).