"What the physiological software of life means for patient-specific interventions" by Michael Levin

This is a very brief (~5 minute) explanation I made at a conference on next generation biomedicine about the topic of physiological learning and reprogrammability. I was commenting on the fact that differences in patient responses to interventions are not only due to genetics and epigenetics, but also to the memories made by cells and tissues of past experiences (which will differ greatly across patients). Any molecular pathway shown in textbooks and papers won't function the same way in each individual because many of them can store dynamical system memories of past history and act differently in the future. The comment has no visuals to it, so I simply added some movies of our 2-headed planarian flatworms (originally recorded by Junji Morokuma in my lab) and then some nice ocean videos I shot at sunrise. The worms are a nice example: their bioelectric state was reprogrammed by a brief intervention (physiological experience) and now they forever make 2-headed regenerative (asexual) progeny despite having totally normal genetics.

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) Patient-Specific Cellular Memories

(02:16) Cellular Goal-Directed Growth

PRODUCED BY:

https://aipodcast.ing

SOCIAL LINKS:

Podcast Website: https://thoughtforms-life.aipodcast.ing

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3pVafx6EZqXVI2V_Efu2uw

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thoughtforms-life/id1805908099

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7JCmtoeH53neYyZeOZ6ym5

Twitter: https://x.com/drmichaellevin

Blog: https://thoughtforms.life

The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org

What is Thoughtforms Life?

A podcast by Professor Michael Levin exploring the frontiers of biology, cognition, and emergence. Engage in conversations about morphogenesis, bioelectricity, and synthetic life — and uncover how intelligence and agency emerge from the most fundamental levels of nature.