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SUMMARY:What Can a Simple Oil Droplet Teach Us About Life? - Dr Martin Han
 czyc
DTSTART:20120131T181500Z
DTEND:20120131T193000Z
UID:TALK35749@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:James Scott-Brown
DESCRIPTION:I study abstract simple systems that are far removed from biol
 ogy\, yet demonstrate some phenomenology of living systems. Small oil drop
 lets running around in a dish are using purely chemical and physical mecha
 nisms to move\, explore\, and modify their environment. By moving\, the dr
 oplets are able to avoid for a longer time a kind of chemical death where 
 they become mired in their waste products\, shutting down their metabolism
  and stopping movement indefinitely. In a way the motile droplets are acti
 vely avoiding equilibrium and while doing so appear to demonstrate lively 
 behaviors\, such as droplets circling or following each other in a kind of
  dance. Beyond these life-like behaviors\, the droplets bear little simila
 rity to living organisms. Existing natural organisms are not oil based and
  they do not use the same mechanism of movement. In this sense the droplet
 s could be termed artificial. Such simple non-living artificial systems ca
 pable of living properties may be useful as a technology\, especially sinc
 e they do not need to contain DNA and therefore do not have many of the ri
 sk and ethical concerns of for example genetically modified organisms.\n\n
 Several diverse types of chemical droplets show self-movement\, including 
 models that try to capture an essential aspect of the origin of life. The 
 experiments using a primordial tar as fuel to drive droplet movement is an
  example of this. It has long been considered that self-assembly of the ri
 ght recipe of molecules into structures that are essentially living cells 
 are all that is needed for life to spontaneously form. However despite ove
 r 100 years of experimentation with self-assembled systems\, no one has be
 en able to demonstrate the creation of artificial life. The oil droplet sy
 stem teaches us that some mechanism other than self-assembly may be necess
 ary for the formation of life\, in this case that mechanism is self-moveme
 nt. By this mechanism the primitive cell (or protocell) enters into an act
 ive communication with its environment while it searches for resources whi
 le at the same time remodeling its environment\, much like living organism
 s do. Another mechanism to avoid equilibrium could be replication. Only by
  creating such simple experimental models can one begin to test hypothesis
  not only about the origin of life but also about the very nature of livin
 g systems. 
LOCATION:Winstanley Lecture Theatre\, Trinity College
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