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CIFAR's Global Call for Ideas invited applicants from all over the world to propose an important research question they want to address. We chose 12 finalists, and will announce the final selection in May. Find out more about Peter Zandstra and his proposed program on "emergence in living and non-living systems".

The phenomenon of emergence – interactions among simpler entities which leads to new properties or behaviour – cuts across numerous complex systems in physics, economics, ecology, sociology etc. The Emergence in Living and Non-Living Systems program will explore the phenomenon from a developmental biology perspective, examining how the collective behaviour of individual cells leads to the emergence of complex systems.

It will link these principles to advanced non-living machines that can adapt and evolve. Imagine machines composed of “programmable matter” that can form dynamically-changing physical structures, buildings which adjust their structure in response to the geometry of their location, or re-configurable robots which can self-direct themselves to adapt their shape and configuration for different tasks.