Hello Daniel,

Here is a useful link... and free.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/information-biological/

Information is just information but it carries also the mass that is the molecules atc

information can be transformed into mas and systems as it carries enormous energy

So, information is an intrinsic property of matter that is basically the recognition ability bewteen entities? It is something very close to the definition of "physycal information". I do think that they're the same thing, but analyzed in different scales.

Hi Daniel:

May be this book can help.

http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/information-and-living-systems

Information is a force that enables the organism to reverse the natural direction of process towards high entropy and is the mode of creating living structures.

Hello Daniel,

Here is a useful link... and free.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/information-biological/

This is no doubt one of the hardest questions in Biology.

I think there is a good deal of confusion that stems from the concept of entropy in information theory, which is not strictly related to thermodynamic entropy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_in_thermodynamics_and_information_theory

Besides that, defining information for a biological system is a difficult task since a signal can only be informative for a defined system capable of detecting it. It becomes easier when working with small examples where the putative mechanism of the system is sufficiently understood (e.g. http://www.nature.com/msb/journal/v5/n1/full/msb200983.html).

If entire biology is put forth in a very simple way, for instance, neurons (the brain cells) carry the message from a sensory organ to the brain for processing so that a response can be evoked. A complex system underlies this simple phenomenon such that the message is carried as chemical signals. These signals are known as action potential and the message transmitted by them is known as information.

Also the information can be transmitted with infinite speed

as shown in entangled quantum states of two photons recently

I think this mechanism works in brain and forms the bases of consciousness

if you take a look at the role of glial cells as shown by Dr Douglas Fields "The other brain" book published in 2009, you will understand the the neuron doctrine is only half of the story and EM field coupled with ions is what the brain is about

I am sure a physicist that the brain is quantum device of unbelievable complexity

Hi, thanks to everyone for the answers and the resources, this is a topic in which I'm particularly interested because I honestly believe that we need a unifying concept for biology, or at least a try that help us to go through all the missconceptions.

As stated above by Daniel Damineli, the relation between biological information, Shannon's information and thermodynamic information, is at least slightly misleading; many people mistake Shannon's entropy as the same of thermodynamic entropy, when they realtion is actually kind of inverse: When thermodynamic entropy increases, the system has a more homogeneus distribution, it's "less ordered"; but in the case of Shannon's entropy, measured usually in bits, those bits are actually the amount of information you'll need to know what's in the message, and when you receive it, it's the information you gain, with a result of before - after = 0 in a case with no error induced by the noisy channel. Calculating Shannon's entropy is useful to see patterns or information density in sequences of nucleotides or aminoacids, working better with long sequences, but I haven't been able to find a real analysis of the real application of Shannon's system to biology in a formal way, beyond a far-fetched analogy (If someone has something on this, bring it on :),a nd excuse me if it's in some of the sources above, I haven't been able to check them yet).

I think too that there's an important relation between the "temporarily away from thermodynamic equilibrium state" of living beings and information; and in this case, absolutely every component will play a role and therefore carry information about/for the state; very close to the foretold "intrinsic physical information" of entities.

PS: Thanks for the information, Jerzy, I found amazing the possibility to conceive quantum entanglement occuring in our brains and the relation of that and conciousness and decision. Is this just an idea or are some preliminary clues in the paper you suggested above?

I think that prof Brian Josephson,s consciousness theory (Cambridge Nobel Laureate) is the closes to my believes. I had talked with him and suggested some crucial experiment which has to be done to do it, but he said , it could not be that simple.

One of the experiments I propose is to detect so called Josephson Effect in measurement of the effect of week magnetic field on brain inter-hemispheric synchrony measured by coherence function of EEG (its close to 1 in Transcendental Meditation), The recent theories of consciousness are relieved in Journal of Consciousness Exploration &Research , November 2010, vol 1, Issue 8, pp. 888-897 by Hupinh Hu and Maoxin Wu. You can find some basic mechanism in my papers on DNA from 70ties. I think all the theoretical work was done. What we need is just one simple experiment.

Thanks, Jerzy, I'll check it later. Hope we keep in contact.

Sure wiil be happy to call you by phone someday

if you give your phone number i will call You.

My belive in coherence from DNA level up to interhemispheric coherence as a universal mechanism of life and hence consciousness is stronger now due to the fact that I am sure that I had improved Crick and Watson Model (CODE)

Hi Daniel,

the question is very interesting, I think one of the most important in the future of biology. Currenty I cannot help you on this topic but I think you will find different answers from different people, however I can suggest you to read J Myanard Smith paper (The Concept of Information in Biology) on this topic...probably you already know it

Information is a relationship according to Einstain

Information is energy coupling between two medium at some propotion. Due to high loss of energy in one direction, nature prefers the other way of energy coupling between distinct but coherent space-time points in terms of EM energy it carries.

Information in biology can be a science in which information is gathered about living beings, about their ways of life, processes that they go through and cause, about their ancestry and evolution, physique and chemistry contained withing the organism being analyzed… Biology is a very wide field which includes hundreds of specific fields that research from long gone species and their evolution into today's species to ways in which human effects the nature and different species… For one to accurately describe biology in detail, they could write a 50 page book that would be a definition of biology and nothing else… In short: biology is a natural science dealing with life and living/extinct beings in every way possible…

Following

following

PSYCHOLOGY AS BIOLOGY (clearly and always biological functioning)

[ I am not sure this will help you with your Question, though it relates to biology and "information" in a field where it is most often not yet well-conceptualized. The clear outline of a solution is given.]

I only posit that there MUST BE some directly observable overt behavior patterns (and environmental aspects) that clearly, in an explainable way (using known principles and processes), are sensibly and reasonably "CONNECTED TO" any phenomenon of interest. To put it another way: all noteworthy phenomena of interest have their origin and grounding (often their inception) IN some directly observable overt behavior patterns that did occur (previously). And also, at least often/usually: the the key aspects of development which come with/from stage shifts (all involving testable hypotheses) continue to be ASPECTS of major behaviors; BUT there is more, and much without the sort of DIRECT evidence, I just described.

In short, I do NOT require that all phenomenon of interest themselves correspond -- in a testable (verifiable) manner -- with a particular directly observable overt behavior patterns; BUT KEY MAJOR shifts, change-in-object(s)-or-'direction', DO require such a clear direct association with exactly that (--> THEY ARE THAT

Interesting