Powering the complexity of life

Biology, Physics, Chemistry. 23/09/10

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This episode is with Michael Levin and Nick Lane. Mike is a Professor in the Biology department at Tufts University. He studies the role of bioelectric signals in regulating development and regeneration in animals. Nick is a professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London. His work is focused on the fundamental processes that underlie the origin and evolution of life. In this conversation, we talk about major transitions and key innovations in biology, information in biological systems, bioelectricity, emergence of eukaryotes and importance of bioelectric signals to create artificial life.

About the guest

  • 00:00:00 Introduction

  • 00:00:58 Transition from chemistry to biology

  • 00:06:53 Emergence of complexity

  • 00:09:53 Key innovation of biology (Resting potential over genome)

  • 00:13:53 Hardware-software in biology

  • 00:15:35 Evolutionary biology and software of extinct species

  • 00:18:48 Bioelectricity and biology

  • 00:21:45 Bioelectricity at molecular level

  • 00:29:05 Metabolism is central to bioelectric signals

  • 00:32:21 How bioelectric systems evolve?

  • 00:43:33 Emergence of eukaryotes

  • 00:47:05 Multicellularity

  • 01:19:55 Plasticity at the genome level

  • 01:30:02 How the memories are stored?

  • 01:44:00 Ploidy (genome copies) and biology

  • 01:49:00 Anesthesia

  • 01:53:37 Importance of bioelectricity to create synthetic life

  • 01:58:38 Thank you

Timestamps