Why did life emerge?

Many mechanisms, functions and structures of life have been unraveled. However, the fundamental driving force that propelled chemical evolution and led to life has remained obscure. The second law of thermodynamics, written as an equation of motion, reveals that elemental abiotic matter evolves from the equilibrium via chemical reactions that couple to external energy towards complex biotic non-equilibrium systems. Each time a new mechanism of energy transduction emerges, e.g., by random variation in syntheses, evolution prompts by punctuation and settles to a stasis when the accessed free energy has been consumed. The evolutionary course towards an increasingly larger energy transduction system accumulates a diversity of energy transduction mechanisms, i.e. species. The rate of entropy increase is identified as the fitness criterion among the diverse mechanisms, which places the theory of evolution by natural selection on the fundamental thermodynamic principle with no demarcation line between inanimate and animate

Discourse on order vs. disorder

The second law of thermodynamics is on one hand understood to account for irrevocable flow of energy from the top down, on the other hand it is seen to imply irreversible increase of disorder. This tension between the 2 stances is resolved in favor of the free energy consumption when entropy is derived from the statistical mechanics of open systems. The change in entropy is shown to map directly to the decrease in free energy without any connotation attached to disorder. Increase of disorder, just as order, is found to be merely a consequence of free energy consumption. The erroneous association of disorder with entropy stems from an unwarranted assumption that a system could undergo changes of state without concomitant dissipation, i.e., a change in energy.Peer reviewe

Cosmic Rays Report from the Structure of Space

Spectrum of cosmic rays follows a broken power law over twelve orders of magnitude. Since ubiquitous power laws are manifestations of the principle of least action, we interpret the spectrum accordingly. Our analysis complies with understanding that low-energy particles originate mostly from rapidly receding sources throughout the cosmos. The flux peaks about proton rest energy whereafter it decreases because fewer and fewer receding sources are energetic enough to provide particles with high enough velocities to compensate for the recessional velocities. Above 10(15.6) eV the flux from the expanding Universe diminishes below the flux from the nearby nonexpanding part of the Universe. In this spectral feature, known as the "knee," we relate to a distance of about 1.3 Mpc where the gravitational potential tallies the energy density of free space. At higher energies particles decelerate in a dissipative manner to attain thermodynamic balance with the vacuum. At about 10(17.2) eV a distinct dissipative mechanism opens up for protons to slow down by electron-positron pair production. At about 10(19.6) eV a more effective mechanism opens up via pion production. All in all, the universal principle discloses that the broad spectrum of cosmic rays probes the structure of space from cosmic distances down to microscopic details.Peer reviewe

Changing climate and outbreaks of forest pest insects in a cold northern country, Finland

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On the exhaust of electromagnetic drive

Recent reports about propulsion without reaction mass have been met on one hand with enthusiasm and on the other hand with some doubts. Namely, closed metal cavities, when fueled with microwaves, have delivered thrust that could eventually maintain satellites on orbits using solar power. However, the measured thrust appears to be without any apparent exhaust. Thus the Law of Action-Reaction seems to have been violated. We consider the possibility that the exhaust is in a form that has so far escaped both experimental detection and theoretical attention. In the thruster's cavity microwaves interfere with each other and invariably some photons will also end up co-propagating with opposite phases. At the destructive interference electromagnetic fields cancel. However, the photons themselves do not vanish for nothing but continue in propagation. These photon pairs without net electromagnetic field do not reflect back from the metal walls but escape from the resonator. By this action momentum is lost from the cavity which, according to the conservation of momentum, gives rise to an equal and opposite reaction. We examine theoretical corollaries and practical concerns that follow from the paired-photon conclusion. (C) 2016 Author(s).Peer reviewe