The Effects of Gravity on the Formation of Complex Structures

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The formation of stars and planets and life like it's all depended on gravity to what what extenders gravity and fundamental part of this or is it not? Well I think that it's part of a fundamental part let me very briefly mention that oil and water separating actually increases entropy. But indeed it needs gravity for the oil to be on the surface. Even if you didn't have gravity the oil and water would still separate from each other but yeah they're being globules right so gravity does have that effect of sort of segregating or stratifying or whatever it is things in certain ways.

Our observable universe started out in a highly non-generic state, one of very low entropy, and disorderliness has been growing ever since. How, then, can we account for the appearance of complex systems such as organisms and biospheres? The answer is that very low-entropy states typically appear simple, and high-entropy states also appear simple, and complexity can emerge along the road in between. Today’s podcast is more of a discussion than an interview, in which behavioral neuroscientist Kate Jeffery and I discuss how complexity emerges through cosmological and biological evolution. As someone on the biological side of things, Kate is especially interested in how complexity can build up and then catastrophically disappear, as in mass extinction events.

There were some audio-quality issues with the remote recording of this episode, but loyal listeners David Gennaro and Ben Cordell were able to help repair it. I think it sounds pretty good!

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Kate Jeffery received her Ph.D. in behavioural neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently a professor in the Department of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College, London. She is the founder and Director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at UCL.

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