“One of the principal objects of theoretical research in any field of knowledge is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in its greatest simplicity.”
J. Willard Gibbs (1881)
Abstract
Life in the Universe emerges and develops under certain conditions in accordance with the general laws of nature, in particular, in accordance with the law of temporal hierarchies, the second law of thermodynamics, and the principle of substance stability. Biological evolution and an organism’s aging are accompanied by changes in the chemical and supramolecular compositions of living bodies. As demonstrated by the author in 1977, these well-known changes have a thermodynamic origin. The phenomenological hierarchical thermodynamics of near-equilibrium quasi-closed systems allows us to explain and predict evolutionary transformations in the living world. From the viewpoint of the rich-energy substance of biological objects, the phenomenon of life, first and foremost, is the struggle for rich-energy chemicals. The accumulation of these substances in biological systems is associated with the directing of the specific Gibbs function of formation of supramolecular structures of living organisms to a minimum. Development of classical science opens up new horizons to explore the real world and contributes to the success of gerontology and geriatrics. This paper is a brief review containing new results.
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Original Russian Text © G.P. Gladyshev, 2012, published in Uspekhi Gerontologii, 2012, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 373–385.
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Gladyshev, G.P. The thermodynamic theory of evolution and aging. Adv Gerontol 4, 109–118 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079057014020064
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079057014020064