Carnegie Science researchers postulate complexity of matter, living or non-living, evolves over time.

In a revelation that challenges our understanding of the universe, researchers from Carnegie Science have discovered that minerals may evolve much the same way living organisms do, suggesting that the principles of evolution extend beyond biology, potentially reshaping our perspective on the natural world.

This groundbreaking study, published in the journal PNAS Nexus, offers compelling evidence for a unifying law of increasing functional information, which proposes that all complex systems in the universe, whether living or non-living, evolve similarly under selective pressures, adapting to environmental challenges and becoming more complex over time.

The law of increasing functional information states that "the functional information of a system will increase (i.e., the system will evolve) if many different configurations of the system undergo selection for one or more functions."

If the proposed law is correct, then minerals and other complex systems should become more complex and display an increase in functional information under continued pressures. According to the study, this functional information is the number of configurations in a system that can perform a particular function.

In this case, the configurations are the minerals, and the function is stability over time or static persistence, so the complexity is measured by the number of stable minerals.

Led by Michael Wong, an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at the Carnegie Science Research Institute, and Robert Hazen, a scientist researching the roles of minerals in life's origins at Carnegie Science, the study reveals that minerals on Earth might have undergone a complex evolutionary process over billions of years, similar to the progression seen in biological systems.

Serving as a proof of concept for the recently proposed "missing law" that postulates why so many complex systems appear to become more complex over time, this law of increasing functional information, introduced last October, expands on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection to include non-living systems.

"Ultimately, we hope this work contributes to developing a theory that unifies how all complex systems, both living and nonliving, evolve over time," Wong told Live Science.

This research supports the hypothesis that complexity in non-living systems, such as minerals, stars, and technology, increases over time due to similar evolutionary principles.

"A result that we believe would be transformative to science," he added.

Tracking mineral evolution

To test their hypothesis, Wong and Hazen used a computer model to measure mineral complexity over nine proposed stages of mineral evolution. They tracked changes in mineral diversity from the earliest known minerals, dating back more than 4.6 billion years, to the present day, where Earth's minerals are influenced by biological processes.

The model revealed that the number of mineral types on Earth increased from just 27 to around 9,000, demonstrating a significant rise in complexity over time.

"Each stage builds on what came before," said Hazen. "You have this stepping stone where you have to get to one stage of mineral evolution before you can go on to the next."

The researchers outlined nine stages of mineral evolution, each marked by significant increases in mineral diversity due to various physical, chemical, and biological processes.

For example, the earliest stage involved the formation of basic minerals in the stellar nebula – the cloud of gas and dust in space where stars are born – while later stages saw the influence of biological activity on mineral formation, such as the Great Oxidation Event that led to the creation of new minerals through interactions with oxygen.

This proposed mineral evolution is broadly similar to the evolution of life, which started with simple single-celled organisms that evolved into multicellular complex life forms. However, the researchers noted that there appears to be a limit on mineral diversity because of a finite number of chemical combinations – and according to their model, Earth's minerals are approaching that limit.

This restriction would make mineral evolution "bounded," while the evolution of living organisms is "unbounded," with no limits on how complex life can become, according to the study.

Far-reaching implications

This discovery has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the physical universe. By demonstrating that the principles of evolution apply to minerals, the study opens up new avenues for research in fields ranging from astrobiology to materials science.

The researchers plan to continue exploring the common themes between complex systems, potentially expanding the law of increasing functional information to include language, music, and other human endeavors.

"In our own lives, we experience this increase in functionality," Wong noted. "This is something we're trying to put into a scientific context."

The findings from this study not only challenge the traditional views of evolution but also offer a new framework for understanding the complexity of the universe as well as similarities to technological advancements.

Wong pointed to the increasing complexity of phones, which started as simple devices for making calls and became the powerful, multipurpose smartphones we use today. Meanwhile, Hazen believes that developing this law is an opportunity to answer one of humanity's biggest questions.

"I think all of us, every human being, has some variation of the question, 'Why is there something rather than nothing in the cosmos?'" Hazen reflected. "We feel that it has to be a lawful process."