The question
Exploratory · under developmentHow do living systems remain open to the world without losing their integrity?
Openness and integrity are not opposites. Living systems depend on exchange while continually regulating what crosses their boundaries.
Where it begins
Established foundationThe intestinal barrier
The framework begins with Birna’s established biological research on the intestinal barrier: a selective, responsive interface involving epithelial cells, mucus, immune systems, microbial communities and signalling pathways.
Selective permeability is normal physiology. Dysregulation—not permeability itself—is the scientific problem.
Explore intestinal barrier researchThe emerging question
Emerging inquiryFrom one boundary to a broader question.
Current work is exploring evidence connecting mucosal regulation, microbial ecosystems, immune signalling, the nervous system, behaviour and the social environment.
The framework does not treat analogy as evidence. A resemblance between systems may generate a research question; it does not prove shared mechanisms.
Throughout this project, established evidence is distinguished from emerging findings and exploratory hypotheses.
Currently investigating
A conceptual research model, not a causal chain.
- Environment & relationships
- Brain & nervous system
- Immune regulation
- Mucosal boundaries
- Microbial ecosystem
Newsletter
Follow the research on Living Boundaries.
Occasional updates as the Living Boundaries framework and its evidence map develop.