Opening Act Interconnectedness
A Quick Narrative of What Life is About A simple scientific explanation
by Iryna Stryha
Have you ever stopped to wonder how life ac- ity of things in the universe to create change.
tually works? Exploring the complexities of life and existence involves connecting knowledge from various fields, as everything is closely interconnected. By studying one thing, you can uncover connections to many other areas, expanding your understanding of the world. Today, let’s explore some aspects of how life works, hoping to spark new connections in your mind, enriching your perception of existence.
One of the most fascinating phenomena in our
universe is the force of entropy. It refers to the tendency of systems to move from a state of greater organization to a state of lesser organization. In the context of life, entropy is the force that ultimately leads to the decay and death of living things. The universe doesn’t really like complexity — it wants things to get simple. However, living organisms constantly work against entropy to maintain their complex structures.
A ll life is based on cells, which are consid-
Constant change is required to maintain life. The total amount of energy in our universe is always the same. It can change form, but the amount remains constant.
One of the main challenges early life on Earth faced was finding a source of energy and a way to use it. The earliest cells obtained energy from simple chemical reactions. Over time, they discovered a mechanism for energy transfer — using a molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Its structure is good for accepting and releasing energy. When a cell needs energy, it can break down ATP and use the released chemical energy to do work and create change. Every living thing on Earth uses ATP or something very similar to keep life’s crucial processes going. The first living systems didn’t have much energy to create and maintain bigger complexity, so life on Earth stayed pretty simple for a while.
ered the smallest living systems. Cells are “All life is based on cells, which alive, but they emerge from non-living compoare considered the smallest nents, forming a separated system within the living systems. ” universe. When this separation breaks, the cell dies and becomes a part of the non-living universe again. To stay alive, every second, a huge Eventually, life on Earth figured out how to harnumber of processes occur in the cell to ensure ness an amazing energy source — the sun. Sun its separation from the rest of the universe and fuses atoms and emits photons — a source of energy that spreads across the solar system. prevent it from achieving entropy. Some cells learned to convert this electroFor example, cell membrane regulates the flow magnetic energy (photons) into chemical enof ions in and out of a cell. If the balance is dis- ergy stored in ATP — we call this process phorupted, the cell will die. To perform processes tosynthesis. Over time, some cells figured out like this, a cell needs energy, which is the abil- how to store a lot of chemical energy using glu-
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