Non-equilibrium physics has traditionally dealt mostly with inanimate matter. Yet, in the last decades there has been increasing interest in understanding living systems from this perspective. One example is using the framework and tools of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and nonlinear physics to study how living organisms composed of many differentiated cells develop from a single initia...

Biological organisms must perform computation as they grow, reproduce and evolve. Moreover, ever since Landauer's bound was proposed, it has been known that all computation has some thermodynamic cost-and that the same computation can be achieved with greater or smaller thermodynamic cost depending on how it is implemented. Accordingly an important issue concerning the evolution of life is asse...

Multicellularity has emerged and continues to emerge in a variety of lineages and under diverse environmental conditions. In order to attain individuality and integration, multicellular organisms must exhibit spatial cell differentiation, which in turn allows cell aggregates to robustly generate traits and behaviors at the multicellular level. Nevertheless, the mechanisms that may lead to the d...