Michael Levin preprint proposes topoiesis mechanism for group morphogenesis rescue
drmichaellevin · x · 2026-11-05
Michael Levin and Santosh Manicka released a new preprint, A topoietic model of collective morphogenesis and compartmentalization.
- Builds on the 2024 CEMA finding: Xenopus laevis embryos survive teratogenic stress at much higher rates in larger groups.
- Proposes topoiesis: a constitutively secreted stress signal (extracellular ATP/adenosine) diffuses and decays across the group, accumulating more in larger groups where interior volume outpaces absorbing surface, boosting survival and sharpening collective boundaries.
- At intermediate sizes outcomes become spatially organized—a rescued interior enclosed by a failing periphery—and reconstitute after shuffling.
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