Speaker
Dr. Lloyd A. Demetrius, Harvard University
Title
Mathematics Colloquium
Subtitle
Evolutionary Entropy and The Origin of Cellular Life
Physical Location
Allen 14
Abstract:
The origin of cellular life can be described in terms of the transition from inorganic matter to the emergence of cooperative assemblies of organic matter: DNA and proteins, capable of replication and metabolism. Evolutionary entropy, a generalization of the thermodynamic entropy of Boltzmann, is a statistical measure of the cooperativity of the biotic components. The Entropic Principle of Evolution asserts that evolutionary entropy increases in systems driven by a stable energy source and decreases in systems subject to a fluctuating energy source. The Entropic Principle of Evolution – an extension to biological systems of the Second Law of Thermodynamics – is invoked to provide an evolutionary rationale for the origin of cellular life. This theory elucidates differences in the incidence and etiology of familial and sporadic forms of age-related diseases, such as Cancer and Alzheimer’s.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Demetrius is a distinguished mathematician and theoretical biologist in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is best known for introducing the concept of evolutionary entropy, a statistical measure of Darwinian fitness that plays a central role in models of evolutionary processes across multiple levels of biological organization — molecular, organismic, and social.