The Engineering Research Group (ERG) is an ongoing research program to explore the nature of living systems, operating under the paradigm that life was intelligently designed. Our team is broadly interdisciplinary, combining expertise in engineering, biology, medicine, computer science, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and related disciplines.

Since all living forms exhibit clever solutions to difficult engineering problems, we pair engineering insight with the latest biological research to better understand living systems. In effect, we are “reverse engineering” the systems that make life possible — systems that are vastly superior to anything devised by human engineers.

Our goal is to develop a Theory of Biological Design (TOBD) — a new, purpose-based causal theory and ontological framework for living systems, to better explain both their origins (where things came from) and their operations (how things work). This includes the origination of life’s many forms, their inherent capabilities and limitations, their profound ability to adapt to changing circumstances, and ultimately to their vast diversity.

In this approach, organisms are far from passive modeling clay for the environment to shape, but rather active, autonomous agents that work proactively within their surroundings according to their internal traits — sensors, interfaces, capabilities, and programming — notably to adapt to changing conditions, optimize their own behaviors, avoid threats, and oppose degradation through active resilience.

Toward this end, we’re actively engaged in key research projects designed to elucidate the architectures underlying life, and we’re adapting engineering methodologies to model life’s processes and functions — to better assess and catalog their design principles and patterns.

With an improved understanding of life’s systems, we expect new discoveries that further science, expand the reach of medicine, and spawn new biomimetic-inspired technical innovations.

The ERG is sponsored by the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture. To learn more about the ERG, please contact Steve Laufmann.