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 transitionโa fundamental example of emergence in biological tissue. โ "Pseudorasbora parva (10.3897-zoologia.35.e22162) Figures 2โ39" 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, Accrรฉditation Sans Frontiรจres (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, 2016โ2021). ORCID: 0000-0001-7609-4515.
