Cell and Molecular Biology is a domain where the disciplines of Biology, Computer Science, Logic, Quantum
           Physics, and Nanotechnology intersect and at its heart may be the concept of Information Processing. 
What may distinguish Life from Non-Life is Information Processing...
                        "a living cell is a magic puzzle box full of elaborate and changing molecules"
                                                                      paraphrased from Max Delbruck [1949) - biophysicist & Nobel winner 1969
Atoms and molecules are the hardware of Life.    Where is the software of LIfe?
       Living organisms through billions of years of evolution have achieved goals (survival and reproduction),
       whereas atoms and molecules blindly follow the Laws of Physics and Chemistry. Where is the missing link?
                                             emergent info
Possibly... Information Theory, as an abstract concept like energy and entropy. Information is familiar and pragmatic, yet it is also abstract and mathematical. Information Theory involves the mathematical treatment of the concepts, parameters and rules governing the transmission of "messages and knowledge", emergent characteristics and properties that a system gains as it becomes part of a more complex system.
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Epigenetics and Information Processing in Cells:
    
     Epigenetics: epigenetics is the study of heritable phenotype changes that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence and are passed from generation to generation. Epigentics suggests there is more than just DNA in information flow.
 
     Experiments with Planaria:  using drugs to disrupt electrical fields in planaria, when cut in half instead of getting a tail --> new head and a head --> a new tail, one could get tail --> tail and head --> head, and even 2 tailed and 2 headed planaria.
     And if the 2nd head is removed and the planaria cut in half, these planaria would make another 2-headed worm.


planaria
     Even with identical DNA genomes, dramatically different phenotypes occur, possibly by the passage across generations of epigenetic modifications to the informational content of the organisms.
     Where is the morphological information stored in these worms and how is it passed to subsequent generations including the information to grow to just the correct size new tail or new head?
tines
 Another example:
     in some deer species that grow antlers each season, one can notch the antler before next years new growth. After last years antlers fall off and the new antlers appear, they will have an eptopic branch (tine) at the notches location.
                Where is the new notches information stored in these deer.
   Epigenetic markers are methylations, histone modifications to DNA nucleosomes, and other patterns that influence gene expressions are passed, as information content, to daughter cells in a non-genetic fashion.
    Understanding where and how non-genetic information processing is accomplished by cells is a major question for biology and the study of life.
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