Ecological Modelling 222 (2011) 28692877

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Ecological Modelling
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolmodel

The role of water in the information exchange between the components of an ecosystem
Larissa S. Brizhik a,b , Emilio Del Giudice b, , Alberto Tedeschi c , Vladimir L. Voeikov b,d
a

Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, 03680 Kyiv, Ukraine IIB, Neuss, Germany WHITE HB, Milano, Italy d Moscow State University Moscow, Russia
b c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Living organisms and ecosystems have been shown to be sensitive to very weak signals originating very far away. The dynamics governing these phenomena is discussed in the framework of Quantum Field Theory. This phenomenon gives an indication on the dynamics responsible for the exchange of information in ecosystems. The peculiar role of coherent water is stressed. It is shown that energy is able to travel in a coherent medium in form of solitons, without any losses. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Available online 9 June 2011 Keywords: Ecosystems Electromagnetic eld Phase interaction Coherence Water Charge transport Soliton Ratchet phenomenon Biological information

1. Introduction We wish to address in the present paper the problem of the emergence of organization within complex systems, such as living organisms and ecosystems. The organization of those systems should account for the well known fact that they are not passive systems, able to move only if acted upon from outside; these systems are also active in the sense that they are able to transform the energy received from the environment in form of heat, which has no internal direction, into a purposeful energy, able to do work on themselves and on the environment. Moreover it has been shown (Piccardi, 1962) that such systems are able to be triggered by very subtle actions at a distance where presumably no signicant ow of energy has occurred. The conceptual framework of classical physics, which is usually adopted in biology and ecology, appears to be unable to provide a rationale for the effects of these subtle signals. As a matter of fact, how is it possible to account for the Piccardi observation that the cycles of sunspots could affect the physical and chemical properties of a colloidal suspension on Earth? Should this observation of Piccardi be correct, one should accept the possibility

Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: brizhik@bitp.kiev.ua (L.S. Brizhik), emilio.delgiudice@mi.infn.it (E. Del Giudice), gowhite@usa.net (A. Tedeschi), v.l.voeikov@gmail.com (V.L. Voeikov). 0304-3800/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.05.017

that those cycles, and moreover other cosmic events, could affect the behavior of systems more complex than colloidal suspensions, such as living organisms and ecosystems. We assume the point of view of using this feature of sensitivity to subtle signals as a key for understanding the kind of organization existing in living organisms and ecosystems. The starting point is obviously the verication that such actions at a distance are a real phenomenon and not a fake. As a matter of fact the work of Piccardi is quite impressive but we have done some more verications. One of us (V.V) has detected that some physical properties of aqueous bicarbonate solutions change in coincidence with cosmic events, in agreement with Piccardi. We will describe these experiments in Section 2. Since liquid water is an essential component of living organisms and ecosystems, we feel authorized to assume that the same sensitivity should be shown by them. Furthermore we propose a theoretical scheme able to justify such phenomena. The main property of an organism or an ecosystem is its ability of performing as a unitary system, made up of a plurality of different components, each one having an individual dynamics; in other words the complex system emerges from the onset of an array of correlations among different individuals. In order to establish this array a system of communications should appear; moreover these communications should connect individuals quite far among them, so that a long-range messenger is needed. Nature offers a unique candidate for this task, the electromagnetic eld (e.m.f.), which is the only interaction eld, known in present science, able to connect

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atoms and molecules. The ability of the e.m.f. to induce long-range organization in living organisms has been suggested by a number of researchers (Frhlich, 1968, 1977, 1980; Del Giudice et al., 1986, 2010; Del Giudice and Preparata, 1994; Freeman and Vitiello, 2001; Popp et al., 2002; Brizhik and Eremko, 2003; Tedeschi, 2010). Moreover e.m.f. has been suggested, too, to be responsible of the self-organization of an ecosystem (Brizhik et al., 2009). Let us quote Piccardi (pp. 120121 of the quoted book) on the problem of the interaction at a distance involving living organisms: Living organisms of necessity take part in the events of the environment in which they exist. Very often they participate by means of specialized organs in accordance with their degree of evolution and complexity. But it is not important for us to know whether the beings in question possess them, whether in greater or lesser number.. . .All of this is of no use to us so we will concern ourselves with the possibilities offered to living beings directly aware of particular environmental phenomena. The events which take place in space act upon living organisms either by contact or at a distance. . .But the study of action by contact, which is accessible to direct experimental investigation, is, as I see it, related more to physiology than to medical climatology.. . .On the other hand, certain phenomena which take place in geophysical space and all the phenomena which take place in solar space and astrophysical space act at a distance. No matter what the nature of far-off spacial phenomena, their action is exercised by means of radiations of an electromagnetic or corpuscular nature, or by means of variations in the general eld, electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic or gravitational. All of this may today be listed as being distant actions. A few pages later (p. 126) Piccardi states: Denitely, all living matter reacts to far-off spacial actions, both electromagnetic and eld. The e.m.f. acts as a messenger able to involve simultaneously a large number of molecular components, affecting therefore a macroscopic being; e.m.f. interacts with all the molecules present within its own wavelength. Moreover, liquid water, which accounts for the huge majority of molecular components of living organisms, should play an essential role in this process, as realized by Piccardi. It has been shown that biological dynamics works only when water exceeds a threshold (Clegg et al., 1978; Marchettini et al., 2010). In the conceptual framework of physics, there is a phenomenon able to convert small stimuli into large responses, namely the phenomenon of resonance. When a stimulus having a well dened frequency is applied to a system able to oscillate on the same frequency, the response of the system grows with time until reaching very large amplitudes. Consequently the sensitivity of very complex systems to very subtle external stimuli, having a well dened rhythm of oscillation, such as the cosmic events investigated by Piccardi and Voeikov, implies that such systems should have a well dened spectrum of oscillations, namely they should be made up of ensembles of oscillators uctuating in unison at well dened frequencies. These systems are termed coherent in the jargon of physicists. An example of a coherent system is a laser. According to the above argument, we adopt the point of view, introduced for the rst time by Herbert Frhlich (Frhlich, 1968), that living organisms, and ecosystems too, should be coherent systems. This point of view has found in the last years some corroboration in the investigations (Scholes et al., 2007; Collini, 2010) which prove that molecules involved in the photosynthetic processes in chloroplasts are coherent among them for quite a long time. In the last decades, by using the concepts of Quantum Field Theory (QFT), it has been shown (Preparata, 1995) that water molecules are able to tune together their uctuations, dictated by the principles of Quantum Physics, and give rise to large aggregates (Coherence Domains) of mesoscopic size where all molecules oscillate in phase with a self-trapped electromagnetic eld. Such Coherence Domains are the natural receptors of the extra weak signals coming from afar. Water, therefore, becomes the struc-

ture around which other molecules get organized according to a tight interplay between electrodynamics and chemistry. At a given time Coherence Domains (CDs) oscillate at a given frequency, attracting the molecules able to resonate with the same frequency; the attracted molecules react chemically among them and release energy, which is absorbed by the e.m. elds trapped in the CD and changes in turn its oscillation frequency and consequently the attracted molecular species. In this way a time-dependent biochemical scheme is developed according to a non diffusive dynamics. The fact that molecules are not moving by diffusion, but by the attraction of the e.m. elds increases very much the rate of the chemical reactions. Diffusive regimes, such as those giving rise to Turing patterns (Turing, 1952), could play also a role but the electrodynamic mechanism gives to the system its stability. It would be interesting to rephrase the Turing approach by replacing the diffusive motion with a motion induced by the e.m.f. We observe that the onset of coherence and the consequent phase agreement among the oscillations of a large number of molecules imply a sharp decrease of the entropy of the system, which therefore becomes able to behave as a dissipative structure in the sense of Prigogine (Prigogine and Nicolis, 1977). In the present paper we will discuss the response of coherent systems, such as living organisms and ecosystems, to very weak external stimuli and moreover we will show that within a coherent system energy is able to travel in a very effective way, without losses in form of solitons, which are coherent structures able to keep their form for a long time. The article is organized as follows. In Section 2 we will report and discuss the experiments performed by one of us (V.V.) on the sensitivity of aqueous systems to cosmic events occurring quite far away. In the following Section 3, we will discuss the possible theoretical dynamics underlying these phenomena, based on the properties of water. The electromagnetic properties and the ratchet behavior of those self-trapped charge carriers in coherent water systems, that are the solitons, are summarized in Section 4. 2. Sensitivity of aqueous systems to ultra-weak external factors In this section we report some experiments meant to show the sensitivity of articial systems, namely aqueous solutions of inorganic carbonates, to externally supplied weak signals. Those articial systems are studied as simplied organic systems, so that the outcome of the experiment could provide some suggestions on the behavior of the real living systems, which may be provisionally dened as organic (carbonaceous) aqueous systems being in a persistent state of energy transformation. In the simplest case real (natural) aqueous systems represent solutions of inorganic carbonates. Carbonates are a family of inorganic compounds with different physical and chemical properties inter-converting into each other in aqueous solutions, depending on different factors, in the rst place pH: (CO2 )aq + H2 O H2 CO3 HCO3 + H+ CO3 2 + 2H+ (1)

CO2 is the major product of respiration, so biological liquids including cytoplasm and intracellular liquids always contain carbonates. Practically all natural waters also contain carbonates where they represent the main buffering system and also participate in the cleansing of natural water. Carbonates and, in particular, bicarbonates play an important functional role in a variety of biochemical reactions and in the processes going on in natural waters. Until recently the major role of carbonates was ascribed to their ability to work as major buffers maintaining proper pH values in biological liquids; however more and more data accumulate indicating that they actively participate

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in red/ox processes responsible, in particular, for energy transformation in biological systems. The majority of living organisms receive energy for the performance of all their vital functions from aerobic respiration burning of organic fuels with oxygen. It was shown long ago that, even when fuels and oxygen are not limiting, respiration may be halted if the living system is severely decient in carbonates (Henderson, 1938). Carbonates play an important role in the regulation of many other biological processes and their biological effects are so versatile that they may be considered universal regulators of metabolism. We suggested earlier that if the process of aerobic respiration may be envisaged as full reduction of oxygen to water [O2 + 4(e + H+ ) 2H2 O + Energy] water itself may serve as a potential electron donor for oxygen reduction (Voeikov and Del Giudice, 2009). This idea is based on the Quantum Electrodynamics theory of water (see the next section) according to which Coherence Domains having high reducing potential are always present in liquid water. However, this process cannot go without a catalyst, promoting transfer of electrons from CDs to oxygen. Our studies of bicarbonate aqueous solutions suggest that carbonates may play the role of such catalysts. We found that addition of 510 mM of Fe(II) salts (FeSO4 or FeCl2 ) to bicarbonate artesian waters or aqueous bicarbonate solutions induces a wave of photon emission (PE) from them. Intensity of the wave was boosted in the presence of luminol, the probe for reactive oxygen species (ROS). PE-waves in bicarbonate aqueous solutions could be induced in them by addition of Fe(II) in the presence of luminol at any time after their preparation (Voeikov et al., 2003). This means that an electron transport chain is operating in bicarbonate solution, and electrons are permanently transferred from an electron donor to an electron acceptor. Recently we found that superoxide radical and hydrogen peroxide are present at low stationary levels in bicarbonate solutions (data not yet published) indicating that oxygen reduction in bicarbonate solutions indeed proceeds. This process turned out to be sensitive to some cosmic events. During day-long monitoring of the activity of bicarbonate solution, (we dene activity the amplitude of photon emission wave in response to Fe(II) addition to it) this parameter persisted for many days at a quasi-stationary level displaying circadian variations in the range of about 10% of the mean. However, several days after the beginning of the experiment 7080% decline in the amplitude of Fe(II)-induced photon emission wave was observed. It persisted at low values for about one day and then gradually returned to the original high level (Voeikov et al., 2010a, Figure 2). See Fig. 1. The minimal amplitude of the photon emission-wave (activity of bicarbonate solutions) coincided with the period of the New Moon. Interesting results were obtained in the experiments with bicarbonate solutions activated by addition of hydrogen peroxide in millimolar and sub-millimolar concentrations. Addition of H2 O2 to bicarbonate solutions initiates a process accompanied by spontaneous low-level photon emission amplied by luminol. The process accompanied by photon emission may proceed for many months in hermetically closed test-tubes containing activated bicarbonate solutions. Some samples keep on emitting light for more than 1.5 years after their preparation. Samples with activated bicarbonate solutions placed in a chamber of photon detector continued to emit photons at a quasi-stationary level with some circadian variations for several weeks. Thus neither exchange of substances with the environment nor illumination with external light is needed for continuous generation of high density energy of electronic excitation in these aqueous systems. Drastic changes of photon emission from activated bicarbonate solutions coincided with Moon and Sun eclipses. In particular on

Amplitude of photon emission wave, cps

100000

80000

60000

40000

20000

0
1 23,9 47,9 65,3 84 112,75 128,5 153 180 201 216 232 254

Time from the beginning of measurements, hours.

Fig. 1. Long-term monitoring of intensity response of a mineral water to the addition of a Fe(II)luminol reagent. A bottle with natural spring mineral water was opened at 00:00 on 02/08/2002 and reagent was added to 1 ml aliquots of water at specied moments. The minimal amplitude of the induced PE-wave coincides with the New Moon event indicated by the arrow (16:0018:00 on 08/08/2002). This gure is taken from Voeikov et al. (2010a, Figure 2).

February 9, 2009 at 17:34 (Moscow local time) photon emission intensity started to increase and within 2 h it nearly doubled. At 19:38 a spike on the kinetic curve was observed. This pattern coincided exactly with the time-table of the full Moon eclipse that took place during this day. At 17:34 an eclipse started and at 19:38 the Moons eclipse was full. After the end of the Moon eclipse photon emission intensity did not decrease to its initial value, but oscillated with a pronounced circadian pattern where the intensity exceeded the previous one by a factor 23. Two days after the start of the Moons eclipse PE dropped to the level preceding the Moons eclipse. It is notable that exactly 48 h after the full Moons eclipse, at 19:38 on February 11, a spike similar to that one observed at the moment of full Moons eclipse appeared again on the curve. During the next 3 days occasional spikes were observed in the kinetic curve (for more details, see Voeikov et al., 2010b). Dramatic changes of photon emission from an activated bicarbonate solution coincided also with the Sun eclipse that took place on January 15, 2010. It was an annular Sun eclipse in the equatorial region of the Earth, and it was not observed in Moscow. Nevertheless the pattern of photon emission from the sample changed suddenly at 08:30 on January 15 and continued to be excited for the next two days (for more details, see Voeikov et al., 2010a and illustrations ibidem). It is interesting to note here that increase of PE intensity from the active bicarbonate solution also lasted for about 2 days after the Moons eclipse. Our data indicate that plain bicarbonate solutions display stable non-equilibrium properties, which can be revealed by the appearance of a wave of photon emission from them in response to the addition of a small quantity of an electron donor, Fe(II). Bicarbonate solutions activated by small quantities of H2 O2 demonstrate stable non-equilibrium much more impressively. Activated bicarbonate solutions preserve ability for spontaneous photon emission for many months in complete darkness and under the conditions when exchange of matter (oxygen, water vapor, volatile reaction products) with the environment does not occur. This means that processes accompanied by generation of energy of electronic excitation go on in these systems permanently without irreversible consumption of reagents. The system can accumulate high density energy since it can react to subtle irritations by strong and prolonged rising up of PE intensity. It is premature to suggest a detailed mechanistic model of processes responsible for permanently excited states of activated bicarbonate solutions. However, some preconditions which should

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be taken into account for the elaboration of such a model should be mentioned. We will see in next section that aqueous systems can be regarded in the rst approximation as two-phase systems. One of the phases is represented by dynamically organized water (Coherence Domains), the other phase by a more gas-like water. Oxygen and other solvents are present in the latter phase. According to the theory Coherence Domains have reducing properties they contain quasi-free electrons. Indeed the existence of a charge separation between two aqueous phases coexisting in water has been experimentally demonstrated. For example interfacial water (Exclusion Zone water, EZ-water) studied by the G. Pollack group is charged negatively with respect to bulk water, and an electric current ows in a conductor connecting two electrodes one of which is placed in EZ-water, and the other in bulk water (Ovchinnikova and Pollack, 2009). As it has been demonstrated by (Lo et al., 2009), stable water clusters could be isolated from highly diluted salt solutions. They bear negative charge and the electric potential difference between their periphery and surrounding water may exceed 100 mV. A lot of data indicates that under mild conditions oxygen present in water may be reduced by electrons donated by water (Voeikov, 2005 and references therein). A paradoxical feature of this process is that the products of water burning coincide with the reagents water and oxygen: 2H2 O (CDwater) + O2 O2 + 2H2 O (non-coherentwater), + n h (Energy) No substances are consumed in this process though it may be the source of free energy (for instance, photons). The ultimate source of free energy in such system is destruction of low entropy water accompanied by an overall increase of entropy in the aqueous system containing two water phases. If the conditions for coherent water regeneration exist, water may keep on burning for a long time. However direct oxidation of water by oxygen (from another perspective oxygen reduction by electrons donated by water) needs either continuous supply of energy of activation (for example photolysis), or the presence of catalysts. Carbonates are good candidates for being such catalysts. If suitable electron donors are present one-electron reduction of CO2 to carbon dioxide anion radical (CO2 ) becomes thermodynamically feasible (Halmann, 1993). This radical is a strong reducer and it may reduce oxygen playing the role of a shuttle between low entropy water and oxygen. On the other hand one of the products of one-electron water oxidation, hydroxyl radical (HO ) easily oxidizes HCO3 to carbonate anion radical (CO3 ). The latter may participate in multiple free radical reactions developing in bicarbonate solutions. These reactions are accompanied by generation of energy of electronic excitation providing the oxygen activation needed for its further reduction. A network of coupled and mutually stabilizing cyclic red-ox reactions develops. In the course of these reactions carbonate radicals regenerate back into carbonates. The reagents water, oxygen and carbonates are not consumed. Whatever the mechanism providing for stable non-equilibrium state of bicarbonate aqueous systems, its capability for permanent photon emission demands a permanent energy supply from the environment. A natural source of this energy is the thermal bath where the system resides. Pollack and associates had shown that structural temperature of EZ-water is lower than that of less organized water with which it is in contact (Zheng et al., 2006). As far as a temperature gradient between two water phases exist, EZ-water can draw heat energy (IR-radiation) from the environment and transform it into energy of much higher grade energy of electronic excitation (radiation in the visible and UV-range of the spectrum).

From this it follows that bicarbonate solutions represent step-up energy transformers rather than energy generators. Exact temporal coincidences between the changes in the patterns of photon emission from bicarbonate solutions with cosmic events can hardly be explained by chance coincidences. In fact the dependence of the processes in aqueous systems on cosmic events was rst conclusively demonstrated by Professor Giorgio Piccardi who discovered the effect of solar activity upon the behavior of colloid solutions. Basing on his experiments he made the following deduction: . . .it must be taken into account from an ecologicalclimatic point of view because everything is made up of water or which contains water, solutions, colloidal solutions, suspensions, is subject to the same spacial actions [in particular the action of the solar activity] as are living organisms, and is modied as a result. Thus the water of rivers, lakes seas, marshes and ponds, their inorganic, organic and biological colloids, clay sediment, mud, in short what is found in dispersed state and which has not yet attained a state of thermodynamic equilibrium (Piccardi, 1962, p. 127). The mechanism of long-lasting effects of Sun and Moon eclipses on photon emission from aqueous systems can be considered only hypothetically at this point. Both events represent special cases of cosmic inuence upon the Earth. It is clear that the direct effect of the variations of the position of celestial bodies upon water samples is practically negligible. Therefore the effect of such changes should be the variation of the electromagnetic potential at the particular Earth spots, produced by its modulation induced by the physical events (Brizhik et al., 2009). It should be noted that the cosmic events may inuence the behavior of practically all non-equilibrium aqueous systems on the Earth including water in living organisms producing long-lasting effects. In conclusion, aqueous systems where a stable non-equilibrium phase of organized water and a much less organized phase of bulk water coexist, are able to give rise to a proto-respiration catalyzed by carbonates provided that oxygen, its active species and protons (hydroxonium ions) are present. If the system has access to nitrogen and other non-organic compounds it may grow and develop (evolve) turning into a proto-organism at a certain stage of its development. It should be stressed that such systems evolve due to their intrinsic activity provided by the inherent properties of water and carbonates rather than under the action of external forces upon them. However, their behavior is modied by the external informational inuences to which they are always open. This behavior represents the phenomenon of true self-organization that gives rise to the emergence of more and more complex systems that are basically similar to each other but possess individuality providing for the emergence of diversity, bio-diversity in particular. 3. The role of water The reported experiments together with the results of Piccardi point to water as the essential matrix allowing the dissipative dynamics underlying life to go on. What is water? According to the conventional point of view liquid water is seen as an ensemble of molecules kept together by static interactions, and in this context hydrogen bonds are proposed as the best candidate (Franks, 19721982; Teixeira and Luzar, 1999). However, statistical investigations of liquid water (Stanley and Teixeira, 1980; Bertolini et al., 1989) reveal that lifetime of hydrogen bonds is quite short, in the order of picoseconds. This duration of the uctuations of bindings, which involve the electron clouds of molecules, would imply the appearance of e.m.f. modes with the corresponding frequencies as co-factors of the dynamics. Consequently the general problem of the interaction among water molecules cannot get rid of the unavoidable presence of the time-dependent electromagnetic eld; the use of the static approximation would necessarily give rise to inconsistencies.

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The problem of the interaction of water molecules and the e.m.f. has been addressed in recent years in the conceptual framework of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) (Preparata, 1995; Arani et al., 1995; Del Giudice and Tedeschi, 2009; Marchettini et al., 2010; Del Giudice et al., 2010). The results can be summarized as follows. 1. According to Quantum Field Theory (Umezawa, 1993; Blasone et al., 2011), photons are able to come out from the quantum uctuations of the vacuum; the interaction of these photons with matter produces detectable experimental consequences, such as the Lamb-shift of the hydrogen atom levels or the Casimir effect; 2. Each of these photons could resonate with water molecules present in its volume. This volume is the cube whose side is just the wavelength of the mode corresponding to the energy jump E between two levels of the molecule: = hc/E, where h is the Planck constant and c is the speed of light; therefore the volume has a value 3 . In the case of water it has been shown (Arani et al., 1995) that E = 12.06 eV (electron volts), so that = 0.1 m, which is one thousand times larger than the size of the single water molecule (slightly more than 1 A). As a consequence a photon would include within its own volume many molecules; in the case of water at the boiling point, about 20,000 molecules. 3. Let us call P the probability of interaction of 1 photon with 1 molecule, which can be estimated by the Lamb-shift to be in the order of 104 to 105 ; when the quantity P 3 N/V (where N/V is the molecule density) becomes equal to 1, the photon cannot escape any longer from the region occupied by molecules and is compelled to bounce continuously among the different molecules getting trapped by their ensemble. 4. All photons coming out from the e.m.f. background (which includes the vacuum) undergo the same fate, so that a pile up of photons occurs within the volume 3 (which from now on will be termed Coherence Domain (CD)) giving rise to a sizeable e.m.f. able to attract by resonance the surrounding molecules and therefore producing a sharp increase of density. This ts exactly what happens in the real vapourliquid transition! 5. The frequency of the photons trapped in the CD gets renormalized to a smaller value, since the time T of the single oscillation, whose inverse is just the frequency = 1/T, is increased by the time spent in the molecule excitations. Consequently becomes smaller and according to Quantum Optics (Preparata, 1995) photons become unable to be irradiated by the CD and get permanently trapped within the CD. 6. As a consequence of the above dynamics all molecules belonging to the CD oscillate in unison between the two individual molecule levels in tune with the trapped co-resonating e.m.f. which has lost its independence; its energy gives rise now to the cohesion of the system. The phase agreement of molecules and eld is named Coherence. In a coherent state it is possible to give a denite value to the phase, which denotes in the physical jargon the rhythm of oscillation of the system. 7. In the particular case of water, the coherent oscillation of the water molecules occurs between a ground state where all electrons are tightly bound to the molecule, so that none of them could be easily released, and an excited level where one electron becomes so loosely bound to be easily released, either by a quantum tunnel effect or by a mild external energy supply. Consequently CDs become electron donors providing an explanation for the electron transfer processes observed in aqueous systems. 8. The existence of a trapped e.m.f. within the CDs gives rise to the appearance of a difference of electric potential on its boundary (Marchettini et al., 2010). 9. The above electromagnetic attraction is counteracted at a non vanishing temperature T by thermal noises, which include

Brownian motions and diffusive processes. As discussed in Arani et al. (1995) the interplay between the thermal dynamics and the electromagnetic attraction gives rise to a dynamical equilibrium whose consequence is, like in liquid helium (Tisza, 1947), the formation of a two phase uid, the rst phase being the ensemble of coherent molecules assembled in the CDs, whereas the second phase is the gas-like ensemble of molecules pushed out of tune by the collisions produced by the thermal noise. Coherent and non coherent fractions have well dened values for each set of thermodynamic values. Coherent fraction excludes all solutes from inside; solutes could be hosted in the non coherent fraction only. This result reproduces the old fashioned model developed by Rontgen (1892). 10. Near a surface the disruptive effect of thermal noise on coherence could be compensated by the attraction of water molecules to the wall. As a consequence the coherent fraction assumes a much larger value near a surface than in the bulk. Properties of interfacial water (and water in living organisms can be assumed to be almost totally interfacial) should be considered almost coincident with the properties of purely coherent water (or the water at very low temperature) and therefore quite different from the properties of usual bulk water. We are now in the position to give a rationale to the observed difference between normal bulk water and the water present in living organisms (Pagnotta and Bruni, 2007; Zhou et al., 2009). In recent times the existence of peculiar properties of the water close to surfaces has been reported (Pollack, 2010, and references therein). 11. The ensemble of almost free electrons present in the water CDs could be further excited by external supplies of energy, giving rise to the possibility of oscillations of the CD between its ground state and one of its many excited states. Repeating the same process described above for water molecules, water CDs could become in turn coherent among them giving rise to an extended coherence (coherence among Coherence Domains) which, as has been discussed elsewhere (Del Giudice and Tedeschi, 2009; Del Giudice et al., 2009), is able to implement the dynamics predicted on thermodynamic grounds by Prigogine (Prigogine and Nicolis, 1977). Taking into account the features of liquid water described above, as predicted by Quantum Field Theory, we are now in a position to discuss the reported experiments and also the Piccardi results. On the basis of the QED theory of water summarized above, living organisms and the aqueous systems have a denite phase . Such systems are subjected in Quantum Physics to the so called AharonovBohm effect (Aharonov and Bohm, 1959, 1961), which prescribes that the externally applied e.m. potential adds up to the phase, changing consequently the internal dynamics of the coherent system. Quantum systems therefore exhibit an additional possibility of electromagnetic interaction with respect to the classical systems. In classical systems the only possible interaction is the one mediated by an exchange of energy and/or momentum, namely by an externally applied force. In quantum systems, thanks to the AharonovBohm effect, a new possibility appears: an interaction mediated by the potential, which in classical physics cannot exist, whose consequence is a change of the phase, namely a change of the dynamics governed by the internal rhythm of oscillation, which is typical of the living systems and of special aqueous systems. In the phase interaction the intensity of the e.m.f., which is connected to the exchanged energy, plays no role, whereas the signicant variable is the potential which, as described in Brizhik et al. (2009), could be non vanishing also when the eld is zero. Let us introduce a metaphor: consider an orchestra and its director. The energetics of the orchestra is produced by the players, whereas the director interacts with the orchestra not exchanging

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energy but tuning together the phases of different players, transforming therefore a noise into a music. The interaction between director and players, which does not imply a signicant exchange of energy, transforms the orchestra into a coherent system. Consequently very weak elds can produce major effects on coherent systems through the impact of their associated potentials on the phase of the systems acted upon. The AharonovBohm effect might therefore provide a rationale to the existence of subtle inuences on living organisms and ecosystems. In particular it is well known that all living organisms obey to the celebrated WeberFechner Law (see Chisholm and Hugh, 1911), which states that the response of a living organism depends on the stimulus S through the relationship: = C log S S0 (2)

4. Ratchet dynamics of charge carriers We have discussed so far how the phase of a coherent system gets modied by an event occurring very far away. The change of the phase, as said in the above section, produces a change of the biochemical sequences, which in turn produce energy. An extremely important feature of living systems is a very efcient way of energy transportation. Usually the output energy of chemical reactions is dissipated in a thermal way, by release of heat. However the diffusive dissipation implies the loss of a large fraction of the released energy, which therefore cannot be used totally for performing work. Experimental evidence shows that living organisms present a highly efcient energy transportation. This efciency is connected with the existence of a coherent medium, such as coherent water, in living organisms. It has been shown (Del Giudice et al., 1985) that in coherent mediums energy is transported in a non-thermal way by very localized energy packets, named solitons. The importance of solitons for energy propagation without losses has been rstly stressed by Davydov (Davydov, 1979). Moreover solitons play the role of giving a directionality to the supplied energy, according to the so called ratchet effect (Reinmann, 2002). A ratchet is dened by Wikipedia as a device that allows continuous linear or rotary motion in only one direction while preventing motion in the opposite direction. A ratchet phenomenon consists in the appearance of a directed current (drift) under the action of stochastic or deterministic unbiased (zero mean-value) forces oscillating in time. The ratchet phenomenon is a part of the general process occurring in living systems where a chaotic supply of energy produces an effect having a well dened direction. In this section we describe the effects of periodic e.m.f.s, such as those originating in the environment and affecting organisms, on charge transport processes mediated by solitons that occur in living organisms during their respiration or photosynthesis, and in interfacial water, water CDs in biological tissues and in ecosystems (in oceans, atmosphere, etc.). According to Davydov (1985), charge transport on molecular chains is provided by solitons which describe bound states of charge carriers with self-induced local deformation of the molecular chain. As any solitons in other nonlinear systems, solitons in molecular chains are exceptionally stable due to the compensation of wave dispersion and nonlinearity, their energy is lower than the energy of free charge carriers. Propagating along molecular chain solitons are subjected to a potential (relief) generated by the discrete structure (lattice) of the chain; this structure usually exhibits regularities that produce a potential characterized by oscillations, termed wells in the physical jargon. These potentials have in general several wells, but in the simplest case a double-well potential is considered for chains with two atoms per unit cell. In macromolecules and DNA this is the so-called Peierls-Nabarro potential (Brizhik et al., 2000), in water chains this is a relief, formed by double-well potentials for a proton in hydrogen bonded water molecule chains (Davydov, 1985). Both Peierls-Nabarro potential and double-well relief in water systems can play the role of the ratchet potential for the appearance of the ratchet phenomenon. Here we show that this phenomenon can also take place in charge transport systems, described above, under the action of an external eld, of a local trans-membrane potential in a living cell, of a coherent electromagnetic eld of the whole organism (endogenous electromagnetic eld) (Brizhik and Eremko, 2003), etc. Since ratchet phenomenon can essentially change dynamics of charged solitons and their stability properties, it can affect in its turn the metabolism of living organisms in particular and ecosystems in general. In the general case soliton dynamics in a molecular lattice is described by the system of non-linear coupled equations for the electron wave function and lattice displacements (Davydov, 1985). In the continuum approximation this system can be reduced to to

where C is a constant and S0 is the value of the stimulus producing no response. The WeberFechner Law, which has been experimentally established by classical physiology in the XIX century, could appear counterintuitive to a mechanistically minded reader, used to think that the response of an organism should be proportional to the stimulus. This could be the reason why conventional biology and medicine usually neglect the importance of very weak stimuli, like for instance the environmental e.m. elds. It is interesting to observe that, according to the WeberFechner Law, when S is much smaller than S0 , the amount of the response becomes larger and larger; it is no longer out-bound, but in-bound, namely it is not directed outwards but produces an internal change of the system. WeberFechner Law cannot be understood in the frame of conventional explanations based on the central role of energy but acquires a rationale within a dynamics where coherence, and consequently the phase, plays a pivotal role. As a matter of fact, non-coherent systems, such as inert bodies, are unable to feel subtle inuences. We can realize that conventional thinking, which assumes that all bodies in Nature are inert in the sense that they can be moved from outside only, is unable to understand the existence of subtle inuences in the Universe, like the cosmic events investigated by Piccardi and discussed in the present paper. An additional intriguing property of the phase is that it is able to travel at a speed higher than light. Since correlations in coherent systems and among them are kept at phase velocity (Del Giudice and Vitiello, 2006), these subtle messages travelling in the Universe, in ecosystems and among them could violate the Einstein causality and give rise to synchronic phenomena, such as those predicted by Jung (1952). Phase appears therefore to be the vehicle of the long-range connections within and among ecosystems. Once the phase of a given coherent system is xed to a particular value its internal molecular dynamics is determined. As described in Brizhik et al. (2009) the e.m.f. trapped within the water CDs is able to attract all the molecules able to resonate with its own frequency; the chemical energy released in the molecule reaction is assumed by the e.m.f. and changes its frequency of oscillation and hence its phase, changing consequently the molecule species which get attracted. In this way the phase dynamics is able to govern the sequence of chemical events occurring in the system. The signals mediated by the e.m.f. potentials discussed above are also changing the phase of the e.m.f. so that they are able to induce the same phenomena produced by contact chemical interactions. In this way the dynamics of ecosystems and living systems is able to be governed in a two-fold way: by chemical contact interactions and by the action at a distance started by events occurring far away and transported by the electromagnetic potentials. This two-fold way can occur only in systems governed by the phase, namely in non-inert systems.

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the Schrdinger equation for the electron wave function in the selfconsistent deformation potential. This potential is proportional to the electron probability at a given place and time so that the Schrdinger equation contains a cubic nonlinearity and is known as the discrete nonlinear Schrdinger equation. In the leading order approximation it has the soliton solution (x, t) = 1 exp(ikx iEt/ ) h g 2 cosh{g[x R(t)]/2a} (3)

where x is the atom position along the molecular chain, E is the energy, R(t) is the c.m. coordinate of the soliton, a is lattice constant, k is the wave-vector of the soliton, and g is the nonlinear coupling constant, that determines the width of the soliton: g=
2

2Jw

(4)

is the strength of electron coupling with the lattice, J is here the resonant interaction energy between the nearest sites, w is the elasticity of the chain. In molecular chains it is determined by the electron exchange interaction, chain elasticity and strength of electron coupling with the lattice. In a molecular chain the dynamic equation for the c.m. coordinate of the soliton, R(t), under the external force, F(t) = eE(t), taking into account the energy dissipation and the presence of the potential relief U(R), arising from the lattice discreteness, takes the form: Ms R = R where Ms = m + Mdef ; Mdef = mM 6 h
2 4

dU(R) + eE(t) dR

Fig. 2. Position of c.m. of the soliton as function of time in an external biharmonic eld at E0 = .08, = .6, = /2, T = 1000 in a chain with the following values of the nonlinear coupling constant g = .36 (upper curve); g = .32 (lower curve).

(5) proton drift in the external unbiased eld asymmetric respect to time; in the simplest case the eld could be the biharmonic one: w2 (6) E(t) = E0 sin 2 t T + sin 4 t T (8)

is the effective mass of the soliton, dressed with phonons. Here M is the mass of a unit cell. The friction coefcient, , in Eq. (5) is proportional to the constant of energy dissipation in the system. Eq. (5) belongs to the class of equations which under given conditions admit solutions which describe the ratchet dynamics (Reinmann, 2002), i.e., describe a motion unidirectional in average (ratchet dynamics) of a particle whose trajectory is a limit cycle whose phase is locked to the external periodic drive E(t). Direction of the drift of a particle is determined by the interplay of the superposition of the periodical oscillating processes, caused by ratchet potential and external eld. Indeed, numerical solutions of the discrete equations for an electron in a diatomic molecular chain manifest ratchet behavior under the action of an external periodic unbiased force (Brizhik et al., 2010). In a chain with one atom in a unit cell the potential relief is periodical with the period of the lattice, U(R) = U cos(2 R/a), in a diatomic molecular chain the potential relief can be written as sum of two terms U(R) = U1 cos 2 R a + U2 cos 4 R + a (7)

Indeed, numerical simulations of the discrete system of nonlinear equations, which in the continuum approximation using the collective coordinate representation are reduced to Eq. (5) (Brizhik et al., 2008), have shown that the unbiased biharmonic eld causes a directed (in average) motion of solitons in the symmetrical chains. In Fig. 2, we show an example of such a drift in the biharmonic eld (8). Here the intensity of the eld is measured in units ea/J, time is measured in units of h/J and the friction coefcient is chosen to be 0.2. The velocity of the soliton drift is determined by the chain parameters, intensity of the eld E0 , and extent of energy dissipation. Necessary conditions for the soliton drift are determined by the fact that in molecular chains periodical lattice potential plays the role of the ratchet potential. Therefore, solitons can drift within elds, whose intensity is bigger than some critical value to allow solitons to overcome the pinning by the potential barrier. Also the frequency of the eld should not be too high, so that the lattice deformation could follow oscillations of the electron. According to study of the dynamics of solitons in external eld (Brizhik et al., 1998), solitons have some characteristic frequency 0 0 = gVac , (9)

where is a phase which determines the asymmetry of the potential arising from the difference of atoms in a unit cell. The height of the barrier depends on the square of the electronphonon coupling g, determined in Eq. (4) (Brizhik et al., 2000). The presence of such a potential causes the possibility of the charge drift in the unbiased eld, provided that its intensity and period exceed some critical values (Brizhik et al., 2008, 2010), as has been shown by computer modeling of the initial system of discrete equations and as it can be seen by solving numerically Eq. (5) with the potential (7) for a periodic unbiased eld E(t) = E0 sin(2 t/T ) (Brizhik et al., 2010). In a hydrogen-bonded water chain the double-well potential relief is symmetric. Therefore, one can expect the possibility of the

where Vac = a w m (10)

is the sound velocity in a chain. When a periodic eld is applied, solitons oscillate with the frequency of the applied eld, , but their effective mass depends on the frequency of the eld. Namely, at < 0 deformation of the chain follows oscillations of a charge, and soliton dynamical mass includes the mass of the chain deformation, as dened by Eq. (6), Ms,dyn = Ms . At high frequency of the eld, > 0 , the deformation remains at rest and soliton dynami-

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L.S. Brizhik et al. / Ecological Modelling 222 (2011) 28692877 Brizhik, L.S., Eremko, A.A., 2003. Nonlinear model of the origin of endogenous alternating electromagnetic elds and selfregulation of metabolic processes in biosystems. Electromagn. Biol. Med. 22, 3139. Brizhik, L., Cruzeiro-Hansson, L., Eremko, A., Olkhovska, Yu., 2000. Soliton dynamics and Peierls-Nabarro barrier in a discrete molecular chain. Phys. Rev. B 61, 11291141. Brizhik, L., Eremko, A., Piette, B., Zakrzewski, W., 2008. Ratchet behaviour of polarons in molecular chains. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 20, 255242, CM/266269/PAP/21848. Brizhik, L., Del Giudice, E., Jorgensen, S.E., Marchettini, N., Tiezzi, E., 2009. The role of electromagnetic potentials in the evolutionary dynamics of ecosystems. Ecol. Model. 220, 18651869, doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2009.04.017. Brizhik, L., Eremko, A., Piette, B., Zakrzewski, W., 2010. Ratchet dynamics of large polarons in asymmetric diatomic molecular chains. J. Phys.: Condens. 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cal mass equals effective mass of a free charge, Ms,dyn = m. Since the presence of the ratchet potential is a necessary condition for the ratchet dynamics, one can expect, that such ratchet dynamics can be possible in low-frequency regime. The numerical simulations (Brizhik et al., 2008) conrm this result indeed. Soliton drift is possible due to the absorption of energy from the external eld, and takes place as the result of the superposition of periodical processes in a nonlinear system. According to the analytical study (Brizhik and Eremko, 2003), solitons emit sound and electromagnetic waves in both directions during oscillations. The amplitude of this emission is proportional to the square of the average velocity of solitons. Therefore one can expect that in the external periodical eld electromagnetic radiation emitted by solitons, is modied, and that the intensity of the soliton induced radiation increases with increasing the intensity of the external eld. Similar to the deterministic elds considered here, symmetric white noise (Luczka et al., 1995, 1997) also can cause drift of solitons in low-dimensional molecular systems. Therefore, in living organisms and aqueous systems the presence of a symmetric stochastic noise can result in the formation of a directed current of solitons, which affects the charge transport processes. 5. Conclusions Any living organism or ecosystem is impossible without water. The unique properties of water make it possible to be self-organized and to be ultra-sensitive to external stimuli having an extremely low intensity (Tiezzi et al., 2010). In organized domains, like interfacial water, exclusion zones, CDs, coherent ensembles of CDs, etc., water can support nonlinear charge transport, mediated by solitons. In the presence of externally applied periodic electromagnetic elds the dynamics of solitons changes. Solitons attain additional oscillations with the frequency of the eld, and the mass of solitons, which is dynamically determined, acquires a dependence on the eld frequency as well. Moreover, a non-biased oscillating eld can cause drift of solitons. Variations of the oscillation frequency and average velocity (per period) of the soliton are able to change the soliton resonant frequency and the frequency of their own electromagnetic radiation. This affects the charge transport processes in particular, the metabolism of organisms and the functioning of ecosystems in general. These results can explain the mechanism of the sensitivity of water systems to changes in solar electromagnetic activity, which is conrmed by experimental observations, including also the results reported here. Acknowledgements We dedicate this paper to the memory of Enzo Tiezzi. The passionate discussions we have had with him have helped us very much to shape our point of view. His ideas will be present in the future and will keep inspiring us. References
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