The Double-Aspect of Life.

Daniel Fels

doi:10.3390/biology7020028

Abstract

Life is based on two aspects: matter and a non-material, electrical component. In a dynamic system of reciprocal causality, matter and the so-called bioelectricity interact with one another, forming a functional unity. The aim of this essay is to summarize evidence for bioelectricity, for the sensitivity of biosystems to external physical factors and for the interactions of internal bioelectricity with internal biochemical structures. I propose non-material information of bioelectrical states to be just as inheritable from generation to generation as is the material genetic code.

Highlights

Life expresses itself as a manifold of interactions between genes and phenotypes such as physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, morphology, life-history traits and behavior
Bioelectricity is generated by electrical charges of ions and molecules in an aqueous environment
We find electrostatic phenomena at a much smaller scale in life, as well

Summary

Introduction

Life expresses itself as a manifold of interactions between genes and phenotypes such as physiology, biochemistry, anatomy, morphology, life-history traits and behavior. (ii) the impossibility of charged cell components to remain inert to these fields, and (iii) the looping-back of the fields on cell components leading to a system of reciprocal causality [2,3] This interaction between the material components of the cell and the fields of the cell is proposed here as a system of reciprocal causality between the EMFs of the cell and the matter of the cell. The aim of this essay is to create awareness on the significant contribution of cell-internal EMFs on living processes This will support the integration of cell-internal EMFs into an updated and extended theory of life. Both matter witheach eachother other a system of reciprocal (depicted a wave-line). In (c) the figure displays that both matter and EMFs are inherited

The Existence of Cell-Internal

Effects of External Electromagnetic Fields on the State of Biosystems

The Significance of the Electromagnetic Fields of the Cell for Life Processes

Conclusions