This article is the fourth paper of the Special Issue Memory and Criticality. It bridges the the theoretical debate on the role of memory and criticality discussed in the three earlier manuscripts, with a review of key concepts in biology and focus on cell-to-cell communication in organismal development. The authors suggest that in conjunction with morphogenetic gradients, there exist gradients of information transfer creating cybernetic loops of stability and disorder, setting the stage for adaptive capability. Criticality, therefore, appears to be an important factor in the transmission, transfer and coding of information for complex adaptive system development.

This article presents a study with the purpose to determine the effect of dietary supplementation with optimized curcumin, pomegranate ellagitannins, and MSM (R + MSM) on immune-associated mRNA during early recovery (i.e., up to 8 h post-exercise) following all-out running efforts (5-km, 10-km, and 21.1-km). The results demonstrate that supplementation with a combination of optimized curcumin, pomegranate ellagitannins, and methylsulfonylmethane resulted in changes that may improve biological recovery from all-out running efforts.