Differences between revisions 15 and 20 (spanning 5 versions)
⇤ ← Revision 15 as of 2026-07-22 07:01:59 →
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 .p106 [[ | ]]
 .p107 [[ | ]]
 .p109 [[ | ]]
 .p110 [[ | ]]
 .p113 [[ | ]]
 .p114 [[ | ]]
 .p116 [[ | ]]
 .p118 [[ | ]]
 .p120 [[ | ]]
 .p121 [[ | ]]
 .p121 [[ | ]]
 .p123 [[ | ]]
 .p106 Cleveland Potash Ltd [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulby_Mine | Boulby mine ]] 1400 meters deep, 1000 km of underground roads
  .[[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyhalite | polyhalite mineral ]] K₂Ca₂Mg(SO₄)₄·2H₂O . 1 million tonnes of [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potash | Potash ]] per year, now 1 million tonnes of polyhalite
 .p107 microbes may multiply once every few thousand years
 .p107 [[ https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-underground-laboratory-host-worlds-deepest-farming-study/ | Boulby Underground Science Facility ]], tunnels 30℃, 86℉
 .p109 Center of Earth: Pressure 360 GPa, Temperature 5700K . . . 10 km down, 100℃
 .p109 chemical reaction rate doubles per 10℃, faster biomolecule breakdown
 .p110 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthermophile | hyperthermophiles above 80℃ ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanopyrus | Methanopyrus kandleri ]] can reproduce at 122℃ / 250℉
 .p113 no replicating life below -20℃
 .p114 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychrophile | psychrophile ]] microbes grow best below 15℃
 .p116 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrero_Negro | Guerrero Negro ]] salt works Baja California, world's largest salt works, 9e9 kg per year
 .p116 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halophile | halophile microbes ]] tolerate salt
 .p118 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_activity | water activity ]] most microbes need 0.95, rare microbes tolerate 0.6
 .p120 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Mountain_Mine | Iron Mountain ]] streams pH 1 (~battery acid), [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acidophile | acidophiles ]]
 .p121 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_Lake | Mono Lake ]] pH 10 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkaliphile | alkaliphiles ]]
 .p121 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenyan_Rift_Valley | Kenyan Rift Valley ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Magadi | Lake Magadi ]] pH 11
 .p123 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroococcidiopsis | Chroococcidiopsis ]] cyanobacterium tolerates 15 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_(unit) | kilograys ]], 1.5 Megarad, 15 grays lethal to humans
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 .p125 [[ | ]]
 .p128 [[ | ]]
 .p133 [[ | ]]
 .p134 [[ | ]]
 .p137 [[ | ]]
 .p125 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_rind | pork scratchings ]]
 .p128 DNA four codons distinguishable, more codons insufficiently distinguishable, more copying errors
 .p133 3 letter amino acid code results from very specific selection
 .p134 of a million alternatives, our DNA code more resistant to mistranslation errors
 .p137 2011 [[ https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/106944933/ast.2010.056720231026-1-fov4d8-libre.pdf | Did Evolution Select a Nonrandom ‘‘Alphabet’’of Amino Acids? ]]
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 .p210 [[ | ]]
 .p211 [[ | ]]
 .p209 [[ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1197258 |Science 2010 RETRACTED: A Bacterium That Can Grow by Using Arsenic Instead of Phosphorus ]] DNA with arsenic substituting for DNA phosphorus in alkaline [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_Lake | Mono Lake ]]
 .p210 DNA halflife with phosphorus 30MY, with arsenic 60 milliseconds
 .p210 sugars containing arsenic in some seaweeds, [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenobetaine | arsenobetaine ]] in some fish, algae, lobsters
 .p211 selenium in amino acid [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenocysteine | selenocysteine,]] resists oxidation
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 .p224 [[ | ]]  .p224 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-puff | puffy planets ]], low density ( <0.1 water) exoplanets
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 .p239 [[ | ]]
 .p246 [[ | ]]
 .p253 [[ | ]]
 .p239 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitalism | vitalism ]] mythical life force or energy beyond ordinary chemistry and physics
 .p246 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per-Olov_L%C3%B6wdin | Per-Olov Löwdin ]] quantum effects mutate DNA
 .p253 Folded wrinkled human gut surface 250m², [[ | Ediacaran ]] fauna flat, facilitating diffusion from surface

The Equations Of Life

How Physics Shapes Evolution


  • p001 Ch01 Life's Silent Commander



  • p019 Ch02 Organizing the Multitudes


  • p024 active matter physics, Tamás Vicsek

  • p026 formula for probability of ant choosing a pheromone trail marked by a prior ant or ants, not usable without examples and numbers
  • p027 formulas obscured when many ants swarm towards multiple goals
  • p028 self-organizing behavior, not supervised but seeming so
  • p034 birds save energy by flying in formation and coordinating wing beats, minimizing downwash effects
  • p035 18yo Cockell in the Canadian north, banding birds caught in nets, then released
    • different ducks behaved differently, unique individual "personalities"
  • p035 Physics trumps individuality
  • p036 cellular cytoskeleton proteins self-organize
  • p037 kinesin (anterograde) and myosin (retrograde) motor molecules crawl along polar tubulin filaments


  • p039 Ch03 The Physics of the Ladybug



  • p059 Ch04 All Creatures Great and Small



  • p083 Ch05 Bundles of Life



  • p105 Ch06 The Edge of Life



  • p125 Ch07 The Code of Life



  • p145 Ch08 Of Sandwiches and Sulfur


  • p148

  • p150

  • p152

  • p154

  • p155

  • p156

  • p157

  • p157


  • p167 Ch09 Water, the Liquid of Life


  • p179

  • p180

  • p181

  • p191

  • p192

  • p192

  • p193


  • p195 Ch10 The Atoms Of Life



  • p217 Ch11 Universal Biology



  • p239 Ch12 The Laws of Life: Evolution and Physics Unified


  • p239 vitalism mythical life force or energy beyond ordinary chemistry and physics

  • p246 Per-Olov Löwdin quantum effects mutate DNA

  • p253 Folded wrinkled human gut surface 250m², Ediacaran fauna flat, facilitating diffusion from surface


  • p259 Acknowledgements



  • p263 Notes



  • p325 Index



EquationsOfLife (last edited 2026-07-23 23:14:13 by KeithLofstrom)