ENST: How Cells Make Decisions

Only minds can make decisions, or programmed machines designed by minds.

A Cell Makes “Decisions” —
But if It’s Following a Material
Blueprint, How Does It Do That?

 by David Coppedge
Evolution News & Science Today, April 15, 2025

Watch an entertaining video in a press release from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) called “Rules of Engagement,” set to the Strauss waltz “Voices of Spring.” We see four varieties of enzymes deciding what to do when traveling along DNA strands and running into each other. We sympathize with these molecular actors, envisioning construction workers trying to work past each other in a narrow corridor. Somehow, they figure out the challenge and carry on.

Later in the video, we zoom out and see that all these interactions blend into a magnificent ballet, resulting in precise folding of DNA into the familiar X-shaped chromosomes. If a cell is merely a “fortuitous concourse of atoms,” how is this possible?

Abiotic matter can self-organize in some circumstances. Tornadoes and hurricanes form spirals. Cooling lava forms hexagonal columns. Elements combine into geometric crystals. In those cases, though, the atoms simply follow physical laws without regard to consequences or function. Life is different. It solves problems for a purpose. It makes decisions.

Decisions to Cooperate

The condensins and cohesins in the video are not drawn into their interactions by gravity or electrostatics. Multiple levels of programming are involved, including: (1) genetic instructions to build the molecular machines, (2) “rules of engagement” to govern their interactions, (3) an overarching design plan to compact DNA into chromosomes, and (4) a need to separate the chromosome pairs into daughter cells in mitosis. To these programs could be added monitoring systems, repair mechanisms, and the astonishingly complex DNA replication process.

Programming makes the difference….

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