Reorganization to Cope with the Unexpected: Synthetic Ecosystems and Brains as Testbeds

Kazufumi Hosoda, Senior Researcher, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan

Living systems persist in changing environments, but robustness alone may not capture what makes them remarkable. Our working hypothesis is that reorganization, a transition to a distinct low-dimensional dynamical mode through changes in the assembly of components, may help living systems cope with the unexpected.

We are beginning to explore this question using two different experimental testbeds. The main focus of this talk is a controllable, high-throughput synthetic microbial ecosystem, in which community composition and environmental perturbations can be systematically manipulated. We will also briefly present studies of human brain dynamics, including transitions associated with Eureka-like problem solving, classically described as restructuring in Gestalt psychology.

Rather than presenting a mature story, we would like to discuss what should be tested to investigate common principles underlying distinctive properties of living systems.