Based off the initial ideas of Death of Sound, the focus of these studies would be to continue creating physical and electronics objects which exhibit characteristics of life which they lose over time.
Some potential routes for doing this are:
Battery Life
Capacitance, or slow drain of solid state components
Physical Decay (Motors dying, relays loosening, components separating or being pulled apart
Devices which harm each other, or themselves
Tools which evolve, or de-evolve over time