title: Toward bridging the gap between life and physics.
abstract: Examination of the scale properties of living organisms and the electronic configuration of crystalline structures suggests that related modeling may be used for both. This paper comments on individual and common properties of the two systems and draws a comparison between them. Both exhibit multiple 'scales' separated by complex or forbidden regions and a global 'overview' of their scale properties. We conclude that the analogy may provide a fruitful route toward extension of the modeling of both living organisms and electronic materials, by permitting bootstrapping cross-modeling between them.
authors.affiliation: The Living Systems Project, Department of Electronics and Informatics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. life@etro.vub.ac.be
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cottam
authors.forename: Willy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ranson
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vounckx
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001686:Biological Phenomena; D001690:Biological Science Disciplines / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008954:Models, Biological; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D049490:Systems Biology / Q000379:methods