We determine conditions under which a random biochemical system is likely to contain a subsystem that is both autocatalytic and able to survive on some ambient 'food' source. Such systems have previously been investigated for their relevance to origin-of-life models. In this paper we extend earlier work, by finding precisely the order of catalysation required for the emergence of such self-sust...

Autocatalytic self-construction in macromolecular systems requires the existence of a reflexive relationship between structural components and the functional operations they perform to synthesise themselves. The possibility of reflexivity depends on formal, semiotic features of the catalytic structure-function relationship, that is, the embedding of catalytic functions in the space of polymeric...

Threshold versions of Schloegl's model on a lattice, which involve autocatalytic creation and spontaneous annihilation of particles, can provide a simple prototype for discontinuous non-equilibrium phase transitions. These models are equivalent to so-called threshold contact processes. A discontinuous transition between populated and vacuum states can occur selecting a threshold of N ≥ 2 for th...

A mathematical reaction-diffusion model is defined to describe the gradual decomposition of polymer microspheres composed of poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) that are used for pharmaceutical drug delivery over extended periods of time. The partial differential equation (PDE) model treats simultaneous first-order generation due to chemical reaction and diffusion of reaction products in s...

Autocatalytic Sets are reaction networks theorised as at the basis of life. Their main feature is ability spontaneously emerging and self-reproducing. The Reflexively Food-generated theory provides a formal definition in terms graphs with peculiar topological properties. This formalisation has been proved to be powerful tool for study chemical underlying life, it was able identify autocatalytic...

How often humans communicate with each other? What are the mechanisms that explain how human actions are distributed over time? Here we answer these questions by studying the time interval between calls and SMS messages in an anonymized, large mobile network, with 3.1 million users, over 200 million phone calls and 300 million SMS messages,spanning 70 GigaBytes. Our first contribution is the Tr...

We show that in a particular model of catalytic reaction systems, known as the binary polymer model, there is a mathematical concordance between two versions of the model: (1) random catalysis and (2) template-based catalysis. In particular, we derive an analytical calculation that allows us to accurately predict the (observed) required level of catalysis in one version of the model from that i...

Supramolecular sol–gel transition is time-programmed with an autocatalytic iodine clock, resulting in the autonomous generation of stable or transient gels depending on chosen initial conditions.