Physiology is the study of function in living systems: how organisms maintain themselves, regulate their internal environments, and carry out the processes that sustain life. Where anatomy describes structure, physiology describes the dynamic processes that structure serves.
The discipline connects to this vault’s research through its emphasis on regulatory processes. Physiological function is not a static property but an ongoing activity — homeostatic regulation, metabolic cycling, signal transduction. The organism is not a thing that has physiological properties; it is a process that does physiology. This makes physiology a natural site for relational analysis: physiological properties are constituted by the relations among organs, tissues, and biochemical pathways, not by any component in isolation.
The Combinatorial Scent Mereology framework originates in sensory physiology — specifically, the physiology of olfactory receptor binding and its downstream perceptual consequences. The physiology of purring, breathing, digestion, and immune response all present similar questions: how does macroscopic function emerge from the relational organization of molecular and cellular components?
Related
- Homeostasis — the central regulatory concept in physiology
- Combinatorial Scent Mereology — applied physiology of olfactory perception
- Hyperbolic Odor-Space — the geometric model underlying olfactory physiology