Norms are relational: cognitive institutions, practices, and the ‘where’ question - Volume 21

‘Metabolism’ is a term commonly defined as the sum total of chemical processes happening within some living entity which sustains that entity. Biogeochemists use this concept somewhat differently. A stark example comes from marine contexts, where biogeochemists sometimes refer to ‘ocean metabolism’. From the standard biomedical perspective, the ocean does not seem to be the kind of thing which can possess metabolism; it does not seem to be a single living entity that is sustained by chemical processes. In the light of this puzzle, this paper does three things: first, we flesh out a distinct biogeochemical sense of metabolism, exploring how this differs from, but retains connections to, biomedical definitions of metabolism. Second, we use this to explain how the ocean can be considered metabolic without needing to be considered an organism. Finally, we explore the consequences and implications of this sense of metabolism–in scientific, epistemic and social dimensions – and of recognising biogeochemical systems, such as oceans or parts of them, as metabolic.

Multicellular tissues are immensely diverse, and yet are notably similar at the microanatomical level–most tissues are organized into distinct domains with w...

Quantifying biological motion is fundamentally tied to quantifying the biological structures that produce that motion. Yet, this dependence makes it essential to decouple motion from static morpho...

Human childbirth is mechanically difficult because a large-headed, broad-shouldered fetus must pass through a comparatively narrow, twisted bony birth canal. Traditional explanations of this “obstetr...

Here they show that gastruloids made of embryonic cells of the sea anemone Nematostella can robustly regenerate whole organisms. They show that Notch signaling is crucial to sort out the randomly disp...