Scientists propose sweeping new laws of nature, expanding on evolution. In his book “On the Origin of Species,” published in 1859, the British scientist Charles Darwin outlined his theory of evolution, which proposed that biological species change over time via the acquisition of features that benefit survival and reproduction. This sparked a revolution in how scientific thought was conceived at the time.
Nine scientists and philosophers have proposed a new natural law that takes Darwin’s theory of biological evolution as a colorful illustration of a much larger phenomenon now, 164 years later. This phenomenon emerges at the level of atoms, minerals, planetary atmospheres, planets, stars, and more. The new law of nature was presented on Monday.
The theory proposes that naturally complex systems eventually develop into states characterized by more patterning, variety, and complexity.
“We see evolution as a universal process that applies to numerous systems, both living and nonliving, that increase in diversity and patterning through time,” said Robert Hazen, a mineralogist, and astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, who was a co-author of the scientific paper describing the law in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hazen’s research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This idea, called the “law of increasing functional information,” says that all evolutionary systems, whether they are biological or not, start from a lot of building blocks that work together, like atoms or cells, and that there are ways to make a lot of different configurations, such as cellular mutation. According to this theory, evolution occurs when these diverse configurations are exposed to selection for advantageous functions.
“We have well-documented laws that describe such everyday phenomena as forces, motions, gravity, electricity, magnetism, and energy,” according to Hazen. “But these laws do not, individually or collectively, describe or explain why the universe keeps getting more diverse and complex at scales of atoms, molecules, minerals, and more.”
Just two elements, hydrogen and helium, were the primary constituents of the initial generation of stars that formed after the Big Bang around 13.8 billion years ago, which was the event that launched the universe. This happened in the case of stars.
When these stars reached the end of their life cycles and burst, they released around 20 heavier elements into space. These elements included carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. These elements were created in the thermonuclear fusion caldrons located in these stars’ centers. The succeeding generation of stars that developed from the leftovers of the preceding generation subsequently produced roughly one hundred more elements in the same manner.
Biological creatures gradually developed on Earth into more complex forms, including the seminal event that marked the beginning of multicellular life.
“Imagine a system of atoms or molecules that can exist in countless trillions of different arrangements or configurations,” according to Hazen. “Only a tiny portion of all potential combinations will ‘work,’ which is to say that they will have some degree of function that can be useful. Therefore, nature seems to favor particular arrangements because they are more useful.
“Function” may imply that a collection of atoms forms a stable crystalline crystal that can endure, that a star keeps its dynamic structure, or that “a life form learns a new ‘trick’ that allows it to compete better than its neighbors,” Hazen continued. These are all examples of what he meant when he said “function.”
The authors developed three main ideas about selection: the ability to stay alive, the long-lasting nature of processes that may allow evolution, and how unique traits develop in response to an environment. Each concept is a subset of the first universal concept of selection, the basic ability to endure.
This “novelty generation” may be seen in biological examples such as the development of various creatures’ abilities to swim, walk, fly, and think. Our species evolved after humans’ evolutionary lineage split off from chimpanzees’ lineage. At that point, we gained a variety of characteristics, including the ability to walk upright and a larger brain size.
According to Michael Wong, an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at the Carnegie Institution who served as the study’s primary author, “I believe this paper is important because it describes a view of the cosmos that is rooted in function.”
“The significance of formulating such a law is that it provides a new perspective on why the diverse systems that make up the cosmos evolve the way they do,” said co-author Jonathan Lunine, chair of the astronomy department at Cornell University. “It may allow predictions about how unfamiliar systems—like the organic chemistry on Saturn’s moon, Titan—develop over time,” he added, referring to a world being examined for possible extraterrestrial life.
