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)
Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD, is Editor-in-Chief of the Georgian Medical Journal and Chair of the Public Health Institute of Georgia (PHIG). He is Professor and Head of the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences at David Tvildiani Medical University, and Secretary/Treasurer of the UEMS Section of Public Health. ORCID: 0000-0001-7609-4515.
