Biodynamics

Biodynamics on a broader perception can be defined as the study of physical motion in living systems.

The term, in addition, can also be used to refer to spiritual-ethical ecological approach to agriculture or

simply a method of organic farming that involves such factors as the use of ritual substances

incantations as well as the observation of both planetary cycles and lunar phases. This article, however,

will focus on biodynamics as the study of dynamics or physical motion in living systems, it will further

seek to evaluate the various characteristics that make living systems not only so complex but also

unique when compared to other systems.

Livings systems are complex systems that might be quite hard to understand despite the fact that they

conform to the natural laws of both chemistry and physics. However, while these laws might help one to

anticipate their behavior, they do not in any way explain their behavior and how each part of the

complex system interacts with another in a participatory setting where the interactions of the systems

generate unforeseeable emergent properties.

Through biodynamics, biologists have been able to formulate experiments that help increase the

understanding and control of key biological processes of living systems. From these experiments, several

living systems characteristics standout such as transformational properties, reaction properties as well

as dynamics and emergent across scales properties. These characteristics or properties well define not

only the biodynamics of the living systems but also the working of the overall system.

The study of biodynamics is a science that has sought to demystify the complexities associated with the

workings of a living system.  While biology has tried to explore living systems through a study of the

component parts that make up a living system, it has failed to reveal the basic principles that a person

might use to well comprehend how the processes or how exactly a living system works. This failure to a

great extent can be attributed to the fact that it is impossible to reduce the workings of a cell to a few

formative principles as is the case in most physics and chemistry laws since all cells possess unique

characteristics that not only distinguish it from others but also specialize it for its given function. For one

to effectively study the dynamics of living systems, it is imperative that they take a look at these

characteristics.

Transformational Properties

The transformational properties of living systems can be best seen from a short analysis of the DNA

where biological information in the DNA originates from one point, is translated, then expressed into

other forms, hence the DNA is commonly seen as a transformational system since the living organism

translates the DNA sequence data containing the genetic ‘plan’ into its physical composition in a series

of transformational steps or a cyclical transformation of the information, from this percept, it is clear

that the living systems are defined by their orderly, homeostatic, sequential transmutation or

transformation of data into phonotypes from the genes. The interactions between these cells and the

contracting feedback loops create a cyclic transformation of the DNA information thereby generating

the evolution of an unchanging system and balances adaption of the living-system to its ever varying

surrounding conditions.

Reaction properties

Apart from the sequential, transformational system, the complex living system can also be defined as an

extremely coincident reactive system. A system that is considered reactive does not acquit itself in

accordance to a pre-defined set of instructions instead it acts in a reaction to a given set of inputs with

respects to the inputs arrival order, speed and timing. For example, a mammalian immune response

consists of highly sophisticated cell types that are able to not only recognize but also eliminate diverse

invading pathogens through the interaction of numerous cell types release various mediators. unlike the

stable transformational system, a reactive system has no set point of rest and does not reach a state of

rest, it is usually, rather, in a constant reaction and it is only through this concurrent reaction that it

manages to hold stay in concert with other subsystems, it therefore does not seek to be at an

equilibrium.

Living systems constantly react to simultaneous perturbations and through their reaction, they continue

to survive, without reaching homeostasis. While it might be noted that some internal subsystems can be

described as homeostatic such as thermoregulatory systems that keep a body’s internal temperature at

370C, it is important to note that these subsystems only act in a homeostatic manner when viewed as a

whole, internally, the system cells of these processes are engaged in constant reactions.

Dynamic properties

Dynamics refers to the capacity of an object or thing to vary with time. It is the essence or is the core of

the reactive system; a living system varies with time in response to various external or internal factors as

or in a bid to adapt to new surroundings. A living system is never static it changes depending on factors

it has been exposed to an example is the pupil of the eye, the pupil when exposed to a surrounding with

increased light, it constricts while when exposed to decreased light it dilates.

Living systems are not only flexible but bear the ability to quickly adapt to changing conditions to ensure

that they are able to optimally function in the current external environmental conditions and to ensure

that the external conditions do not adversely affect the internal conditions or workings of the cell. An

example of this is when one is dipped into cold water, since the optimal body temperature is 370C the

cells responsible for thermoregulation will work extra hard to ensure that they generate enough heat to

maintain the body temperature at 370C and not allow it to drop simply because the external

environment has grown colder.

emergence across scales property

An emergent property of a system refers to the behavior of the system taken as a whole and not the

single behavior of the single minor cells that comprise the system. Living systems are made up of various

small specialized cells that contribute to the overall efficient working of the system that is a system

emerges from the interactions of the different cells.

The idea of scales or levels in living systems stems from the fact that a living system is made up of

several lower level systems that is to say, the essence of emergence emanates from the interaction of

objects. For example, an organ emerges or is made up of cells that are in constantly interacting to make

up that organ, while a cell is consequently made up of molecules that are in a constant state of

interactions with each other, simply lower level interactions create higher level objects.

In conclusion, biodynamics as a study of the dynamics of living systems seeks to explore and analyze the

reasons and cause for these characteristics as seen in the components that make up the living systems,

for example, it is the goal of biodynamics to comprehend how the interactions and concurrent reactions

of the different lower level cells generate the visible properties evinced by the higher levels organs.

Biodynamics therefore is an area of study that requires a lot more experiments and studies to facilitate a

deeper comprehension of the workings of these systems as this will to a large extent revolutionize

biotechnology as a discipline as well as health sciences.