Thinking back to undergrad, mandatory physics courses were 100% disconnected from biology. This gap (IMO) impedes the quantitative training of bio students. So papers like Zim et al that connect microbial physiology to electric circuits have great pedagogical value journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

How “intelligent” is a slime mold? When it solves mazes, it might not be thinking:it’s obeying physics. Our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social shows how it follows a least action principle,letting physics do the job arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531 @drmichaellevin.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social

@sacrozhangt.bsky.social and I wrote a commentary on Jordi van Gestel and Carol Gross's latest paper, check it out! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Sadly, the Editors at PNAS rejected our initial introduction, which was a David Attenborough style voice over of the microbial Serengeti (included below)

arxiv.org/abs/2511.08531 /Cognition as least action: the Physarum Lagrangian/ Ricard Solé, Jordi Pla-Mauri

Back to @sfiscience.bsky.social joining the night shift (with some extra coffee) at the Cormac McCarthy's Library. Working on criticality + cancer, statistical physics of ant colonies, the Physarum Lagrangian, universal genetic codes, synthetic agriculture & hybrid agencies. @jordiplam.bsky.social

New @OneEarth_CP in the @BioFunLab ! Long-term climate warming substantially reduces global soil microbial richness www.cell.com/one-earth/ab... @irnase.bsky.social @csicandalextrem.bsky.social @csic.es w/ Pengfei Dang, Ji Chen, @eisenhauerlab.bsky.social , @tedersoo.bsky.social and +!

Does a cell have a 'mind' - say a proto-mind or basal cognition? Although it was once a fringe idea, recent experimental and mathematical works are accumulating in its support. Here is an interesting recent work: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #complexsystem #systemsbiology #sysbio

A fresh view on phage specificity, which challenges the traditional view of a narrow host spectrum of phages by unveiling that multihost associations are common across ecosystems kudos at @mmarbout.bsky.social & @rkoszul.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My first first-author paper is out!🎉 Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity. Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!

E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Can a single cell learn? Even without a brain, some microbes show simple forms of cognition. Can this basal cognition be engineered? Check our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social on the minimal synthetic circuits & their cognitive limits. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How to deal with the multiscale nature of evolution, which displays different time scales of change? We need to replace classic genotype spaces with multiscapes. Here's a great paper by my friend Susanna Manrubia and coworkers @mncn-csic.bsky.social rsob.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royo... …

Proud of this preprint with my friends Jonathan Bauermann and @artemyte.bsky.social, about chemical oscillators & phase separation! Main findings: 1. Phase separation controls frequency and amplitude of oscillations 2. If reactions are fast, spirals of droplets emerge! arxiv.org/abs/2507.16030

Do plasmids evolve faster 🐇, slower 🐢, or just like chromosomes 🧬? In our new paper, we tackled this question using theory, simulations, bioinformatics, and experiments! 👇 Check out all the details in Paula’s thread! Hint: 🐇 (most of the time)

Is there an ecology of genomes? Can we see ecological communities of genetic elements behaving like species in a rainforest? In this @plosone.org paper, the authors show how genetic elements (like transposons) occupy chromosomes as species fill space in in the wild journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

What kind of cognitive complexity can a cell display? What is the role played by nonlinear dynamics of signalling networks? Check this wonderful review paper by Aneta Koseska @koseskalab.bsky.social & Philippe Bastiaens @jgojalvo.bsky.social @jordiplam.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

What is possible in the space of organs, organoids and organisms? How can synthetic biology help designing new types of tissues and even novel organs? How can cognition be engineered from scratch? Check our paper @jordiplam.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How can biological systems anticipate future events? In our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social, we show how a simple genetic circuit can predict future trends through a simple (and perhaps widespread) mechanism @drmichaellevin.bsky.social @koseskalab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

What are the limits to engineering multicellular systems? Can we invent new organs or synthetic behaviour? We discuss these and other ideas in our latest paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social @jgojalvo.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social & cols www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The year ends with new, exciting research on synthetic biology and cognition, started at @sfiscience.bsky.social with my student @jordiplam.bsky.social . Reviewing the classic ideas (see my notebook) and moving them into single cells has been great—an excellent start for 2025.