C. P. Kempes

Physical constraints during Snowball Earth drive the evolution of multicellularity

The paper models how environmental changes during Snowball Earth glaciations created selective pressures that favored multicellularity in eukaryotes but not prokaryotes.

Observations of Elemental Composition of Enceladus Consistent with Generalized Models of Theoretical Ecosystems

The paper analyzes the elemental composition of Enceladus' ocean using ecological models to assess compatibility with potential ecosystems, finding marginal support for life.

Accelerated physiology and increased energy expenditure in animals and humans with mitochondrial defects: A meta-analysis

This study meta-analyzes energy expenditure in mitochondrial defect models, finding elevated energy costs in 51% of animal studies and similar trends in humans, suggesting hypermetabolism.

Integrating metabolic scaling and coexistence theories

This paper integrates metabolic scaling and coexistence theories to explain community-level patterns in population abundance and biomass density across body sizes.

Bacterial Strategies for Damage Management

This study develops a mathematical framework to analyze optimal resource partitioning between growth and repair in bacteria, identifying distinct strategies based on degradation rates and organism size.

Accelerating the clock: Interconnected speedup of energetic and molecular dynamics during aging in cultured human cells

This study shows that human cells age faster when they consume energy more rapidly, linking metabolic rate to molecular aging markers across the lifespan.

Metabolic compatibility and the rarity of prokaryote endosymbioses

The paper assesses the metabolic viability of prokaryotic endosymbioses using genome-scale models and finds that while many pairings are viable, they have reduced growth rates and are unlikely to adapt.

A general theory for temperature-dependence in biology

The paper derives a universal formula to describe temperature responses of biological processes across all scales and taxonomic groups.

The dynamics of starvation and recovery

The paper introduces a nutritional state-structured model to study starvation and recovery dynamics, showing how these rates influence population stability and maximum body size.