Answering Schrödinger’s “What Is Life?”

In his “What Is Life?” Schrödinger poses three questions: (1) What is the source of order in organisms? (2) How do organisms remain ordered in the face of the Second Law of Thermodynamics? (3) Are new laws of physics required? He answers his first question with his famous “aperiodic solid”. He leaves his second and third questions unanswered. I try to show that his first answer is also the answer to his second question. Aperiodic solids such as protein enzymes are “boundary conditions” that constrain the release of energy into a few degrees of freedom in non-equilibrium processes such that thermodynamic work is done. This work propagates and builds structures and controls processes. These constitute his causally efficacious “code script” controlling development. The constrained release of energy also delays the production of entropy that can be exported from cells as it forms. Therefore, cells remain ordered. This answers his second question. However, “What is life?” must also ask about the diachronic evolution of life. Here, the surprising answer to this extended version of Schrödinger’s third question is that there are no new entailing laws of physics. No laws at all entail the evolution of ours or any biosphere.

Frictionless nanoscale plastic flows of soft solid He-4

Possible onset of the quantum plasticity in soft–solid He-4 was discovered recently in 7 nm diameter (Vycor glass) nanopores. Here, by using the transition-state model together with the specific activation energy and activation volume, we investigated the possible frictionless plastic flows of soft–solid He-4 under high pressure in confined nanodomains and we observed a series of sudden changes in the shearing stresses at corresponding very high shear strain rates of (locally amorphous) soft–solid He-4 for different activation volumes considering the role of He-3 impurities. Our calculated critical velocity for a fixed concentration of He-3 quantitatively agrees with recent reported values.

FRICTIONLESS TRANSPORT OF SOLID HELIUM WITH HIGH SHEAR VISCOSITY IN NANODOMAINS

We adopted the verified quantum chemistry approach to demonstrate the possible frictionless transport of solid He -4 with high shear viscosity in a confined 3 nm (diameter) nanopore. Both the sharp decrease of flow resistance and sudden increase of shear viscosity of solid 4He in nanodomains near the onset of possible supersolidity are illustrated.