E. Schoffeniels – författare

Despite the fact that many years have elapsed since the first microcalorimetric measurements of an action potential were made, there is still among the research workers involved in the study of bioelectrogenesis a complete overlooking of the most fundamental principle governing any biological phenomenon at the molecular scale of dimension. This is surprising, the more so that the techniques of molecular biology are applied to characterize the proteins forming the ionic conducting sites in living membranes. For reasons that are still obscure to us the molecular aspects of bioelectrogenesis are completely out of the scope of the dynamic aspects of biochemistry. Even if it is sometimes recognized that an action potential is a free energy-consuming, entropy-producing process, the next question that should reasonably arise is never taken into consideration. There is indeed a complete evasion of the problem of biochemical energy coupling thus reducing the bioelectrogenesis to only physical interactions of membrane proteins with the electric field: the inbuilt postulate is that no molecular transformations, in the chemical sense, could be involved.

Anti-Chance: A Reply to Monod''s Chance and Necessity is a critique of Jacques Monod''s essay on the natural philosophy of modern biology. It explores the concepts of chance and necessity, central themes of Monod''s work, and specifically whether life is the result of coincidence of diverse independent chains of causality or, on the contrary, whether it obeys the more fundamental concept of chance as proposed by the Danish School of physicists. Questions such as the chance or the inevitability of it all, the sites and sizes of the knowledge gaps and as to whether they will be filled with physics and chemistry on the one hand or seasoned with metaphysics on the other, are examined. This book is comprised of 10 chapters and begins with reflections on biology and the argument that biology can only enrich itself by abandoning a teleological or finalist mode of thought. The discussion then turns to probabilities of chance, with emphasis on three different mechanisms of the intervention of chance. Subsequent chapters focus on the link between thermodynamics and biological order; the basis for a theoretical biology and 14 propositions to which the fundamental attributes of cells can be reduced; the molecular basis of instinct; and the relationship between speech and consciousness. The applicability of cybernetics to biological systems and their component metabolic cycles is also considered, along with the structure of chance. This monograph will be of interest to scientists in fields ranging from biology and natural philosophy to physics, chemistry, and physiology.

Cellular Aspects of Membrane Permeability describes the state of knowledge on permeability problems and interprets experimental results within the framework of working hypotheses. The book discusses membrane permeability with some biochemical perspective presented to explain the origin and adaptations of animal life. The text explains the process and the driving forces affecting the permeability characteristics of the experimental object. It then discusses the distribution of ions and molecules between two phases separated by a living membrane. Then the text analyzes the chemical nature of the molecular architecture that causes such permeability characteristics. The book addresses the electrical potential profiles of epithelial tissues, and then discusses the conducting membranes. It also explains the relationships between inorganic ions, sugar, amino acids, fatty acids, and bioelectric potentials. The book also explains the physical nature of such chemical nature and structure of living membranes. The text then describes the structure of the cellular surface and the structural organization of the cell. The selection can prove useful for biologists, microbiologists, zoologists, and students and professors of biology and its related disciplines.

Anti-Chance: A Reply to Monod''s Chance and Necessity reflects the most fundamental biological facts about human behavior, representing constants that are difficult to modify by religious, moral or social constraints. This book provides a simplistic view which neglects the profound meaning of physico-chemical determinism and most elementary rules of structuration of biological systems. The topics discussed include the probabilities of chance, thermodynamics and biological order, basis for a theoretical biology, and great inventions. The molecular basis of instinct, speech and consciousness, cybernetics and biology, and the structure of chance are also deliberated in this text. This publication is beneficial to students and researchers interested in the analysis of human affairs.

Despite the fact that many years have elapsed since the first microcalorimetric measurements of an action potential were made, there is still among the research workers involved in the study of bioelectrogenesis a complete overlooking of the most fundamental principle governing any biological phenomenon at the molecular scale of dimension. This is surprising, the more so that the techniques of molecular biology are applied to characterize the proteins forming the ionic conducting sites in living membranes. For reasons that are still obscure to us the molecular aspects of bioelectrogenesis are completely out of the scope of the dynamic aspects of biochemistry. Even if it is sometimes recognized that an action potential is a free energy-consuming, entropy-producing process, the next question that should reasonably arise is never taken into consideration. There is indeed a complete evasion of the problem of biochemical energy coupling thus reducing the bioelectrogenesis to only physical interactions of membrane proteins with the electric field: the inbuilt postulate is that no molecular transformations, in the chemical sense, could be involved.