““It is the form of hemoglobin, then, that permits its function. The physical structure of the molecule enables its chemical nature, the chemical nature enables its physiological function, and its physiology ultimately permits is biological activity. The complex workings of living beings can be perceived in terms of these layers: physics enabling chemistry, and chemistry enabling physiology. To Schrodinger's "What is life?" a biochemist might answer, "If not chemicals." And what are chemicals- a biophysicist might add-if not molecules of matter? This description of physiology-as the exquisite matching of form and function, down to the molecular level-dates back to Aristotle. For Aristotle, living organisms were nothing more than exquisite assemblages of machines.””
