Scientists have identified that the heart's first beat emerges from collective electrical synchronisation of many cells crossing a critical threshold simultaneously, not from activation of a pre-existing pacemaker. The discovery, published in Nature (2023), reveals the initial heartbeat as a system-level phase transitionβa fundamental example of emergence in biological tissue. β "Pseudorasbora parva (10.3897-zoologia.35.e22162) Figures 2β39" by Zhu D, Yang K, Sun N, Wang W, Zhou X (2018) Embryonic and larval development of the topmouth gudgeon, Pseudorasbora parva (Teleostei: Cyprinidae). Zoologia 35: 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3897/zoologia.35.e22162 is licensed under CC BY 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. (CC BY 4.0)
MD, MPH, PhD. Editor-in-Chief, Georgian Medical Journal (GMJ). Professor and Head, School of Public Health, David Tvildiani Medical University (DTMU), Tbilisi, Georgia. Chair, Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG). President, AccrΓ©ditation Sans FrontiΓ¨res (ASF), Paris. Secretary/Treasurer, UEMS Section of Public Health. WHO Consultant, Health and Migration, Geneva. Former Member, UN Secretary-General's Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent (IAP-EWEC, 2016β2021). ORCID: 0000-0001-7609-4515.
