Self-organized criticality and information processing in gypsum-proteinoid assemblies

We present a study of gypsum-mediated proteinoid formation and the electrochemical properties of the resulting mineral-organic composites. Proteinoid-gypsum composites were synthesized by thermal condensation of glutamate, phenylalanine, and aspartate with calcium sulfate dihydrate. These composites exhibited spontaneous electrical oscillations that lasted more than 70 h without external energy input. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed a 20-fold drop in impedance compared to pure proteinoids. Cyclic voltammetry revealed asymmetric redox behavior, highlighting a preference for oxidation processes. Power spectral density analysis revealed clear scaling regimes. At ultra-low frequencies, α=2.96. At intermediate frequencies, α=1.64. These values are consistent with multiscale electrochemical dynamics spanning diffusive and capacitive processes. The mean firing rate was 2.31×10^-4Hz. The average inter-spike interval was 72minutes. These values make these oscillations some of the slowest known spontaneous electrochemical oscillators. These findings suggest that prebiotic mineral-organic systems may have exhibited organized electrochemical dynamics prior to the emergence of cellular life, supporting the possibility that minerals participated in the organization of early electrochemical processes.