The Laws of Life, Time and Chance

Explore the fundamental physics of living systems in this 48-minute lecture from the Santa Fe Institute. Delve into the challenging task of creating a predictive mathematical framework for understanding life and time using the language of chance. Discover how Srividya Iyer-Biswas applies a top-down physics approach to uncover basic physical laws governing probabilistic behavior in single cells. Learn about predictive scaling laws for stochastic cell growth and division, and the emergence of a scalable cellular unit of time. Examine the extension of these concepts to organismal computation thermodynamics, cellular decision-making, and complex biological and social phenomena. Gain insights into Iyer-Biswas's interdisciplinary work combining theory and application across physics and biology, aimed at advancing our understanding of living systems' fundamental physics.