  We argue for a convergence of crystallography, materials science and biology,
that will come about through asking materials questions about biology and
biological questions about materials, illuminated by considerations of
information. The complex structures now being studied in biology and produced
in nanotechnology have outstripped the framework of classical crystallography,
and a variety of organizing concepts are now taking shape into a more modern
and dynamic science of structure, form and function. Absolute stability and
equilibrium are replaced by metastable structures existing in a flux of
energy-carrying information and moving within an energy landscape of complex
topology. Structures give place to processes and processes to systems. The
fundamental level is that of atoms. As smaller and smaller groups of atoms are
used for their physical properties, quantum effects become important; already
we see quantum computation taking shape. Concepts move towards those in life
with the emergence of specifically informational structures. We now see the
possibility of the artificial construction of a synthetic living system,
different from biological life, but having many or all of the same properties.
Interactions are essentially nonlinear and collective. Structures begin to have
an evolutionary history with episodes of symbiosis. Underlying all the
structures are constraints of time and space. Through hierarchization, a more
general principle than the periodicity of crystals, structures may be found
within structures on different scales. We must integrate unifying concepts from
dynamical systems and information theory to form a coherent language and
science of shape and structure beyond crystals. To this end, we discuss the
idea of categorizing structures based on information according to the
algorithmic complexity of their assembly.
