Quotation: ”The construction [of living matter] is different from anything we have yet tested in the physical laboratory. …It is working in a manner that cannot be reduced to the ordinary laws of physics …Not on the ground that there is any ’new force’ or whatnot, directing the behaviour of the single atoms within a living organism, but because the construction is different from anything we have yet tested in the physical laboratory.” [12] E. Schrödinger @1944.
Why Schrödinger desperately inserted the boldfaced word was his firm conviction that the ”different construction” the living matter represents only needs different (cross-disciplinary) approximations, and they result in non-ordinary laws, which, ”once they have been revealed, will form just as integral a part of this science as the former”. [12] Eight decades later, E. Schrödinger’s question is still open. ”The origins of life stands among the great open scientific questions of our time” [86]. We hope the analyzis in this chapter takes us one step closer to the reply.
Quotation: ”There is a clear need for a tighter and more carefully managed integration and realignment of the work” …”HBP is not developing with the expected level of integration and the project controls in place are not adequate to achieve this aim.” [36]
Quotation: ”We make no apologies for making these excursions into other fields, because the separation of fields, as we have emphasised, is merely a human convenience, and an unnatural thing. Nature is not interested in our separations, and many of the interesting phenomena bridge the gaps between fields.” [6] @Feyman R. P
Our abstract model focuses on the neuron’s signal processing functionality. However, we cannot reach our goal without the correct physiological understanding of its mechanisms. In this chapter, we review physical terms, concepts and laws, from the point of view of biology. We scrutinize the oversimplifications, wrong abstractions and derive the laws which are not unknown but need more careful formulation of the first principles when applied to living matter. ”We consider how transient electrical signals are generated in the neuron.” [41], page 126. We note, however, that the electrical phenomena are closely related to other disciplines, mainly thermodynamics. We are as general as possible when discussing the physics of ions and electrolytes; furthermore, the physics for biology. However, our specific goal is to establish the firm base of a cross-disciplinary model of neuronal operation.