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. 2020 Feb 1;31(3):143–148. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E19-04-0207

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FIGURE 1: — The dissipation of energy is used to drive dynamic cellular processes via self-organization. (A) When added together, two different colored liquids mix until they reach thermodynamics equilibrium. (B) Living cells are energy-dissipating systems that harness chemical energy to drive their constituents far from thermodynamic equilibrium. (C) Examples of nonequilibrium processes in biology include polarized growth, asymmetric cell divisions associated with stem cells during development, and chemotaxis, a stimulus-driven form of cellular migration.