Key result
Unified theoretical framework proposes the heart's pulsatile rhythm is a necessary consequence of physical principles.
Why the study?
It remains an open question whether core bodily parameters like cardiac pulsation and sleep are products of evolutionary contingency or physical necessities.
Design
Review
Offers physical framework for cardiac pulsation and sleep; leaves open empirical validation before clinical translation.
Why does the heart pulsate? Why must we sleep? Are the core parameters of ourbodies products of evolutionary contingency, or are they physical necessities?This review synthesizes a coherent theoretical framework and its empiricalsupport, arguing for the latter. We propose that the heart is a geometricallypredetermined dissipation center, and the brain is the densest network oflow-resistance pathways left by charge flow. We present convergent evidence fromcross-species embryogenesis, birth circulatory transitions, allometric scaling,clinical cardiology, and large-scale neuroimaging. This evidence demonstratesthat many core physiological traits—from the heart's pulsatile rhythm and thebrain's need for sleep, to the irreversible progression of diseases like atrialfibrillation and the process of aging itself—can be unified as necessaryconsequences of a single physical equation. This framework provides a physicalsubstrate for Darwinian evolution, defining the invariant boundaries within whichvariation and selection operate. It offers a falsifiable, first-principlesfoundation for physiology, integrating cardiology, neuroscience, and gerontologyinto a single, logically coherent map.
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Menggang Yu (2026) reported a review. A unified theoretical framework proposes that core physiological traits, including the heart's pulsatile rhythm and the brain's need for sleep, are necessary consequences of physical principles.
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