The Importance of Bioelectric Systems in Synthetic Life

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.

Guests info:

Nick Lane-

Website: https://nick-lane.net/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Nick-Lane/e/B001IXSEJ2/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1 Google scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&gmla=AJsN-F4olJCJHK40l0_0fVpJFgPP2JYynLUs5cpCsX0ADVj9y4VIo99TJ598Hr0_ItDJucJJGG4Tlxw9nr0zvdBMl8ow3iI3rA&user=eChselQAAAAJ

Michael Levin-

Website: https://ase.tufts.edu/biology/labs/levin/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin

Episode links: Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/powering-the-complexity-of-life-with-michael-levin-and-nick-lane Youtube: https://youtu.be/GBxVvLVzF68 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4P3znAFYC8JofY2dcAUVRz Apple podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/reason-with-science/407cd478-4271-4319-8318-fc378d4e7ccb/episode/powering-the-complexiy-of-life-with-michael-levin-and-nick-lane-|-reason-with-science-|-biolectricity/0a003abf-4d67-48c2-aed8-e4dadcebe574 Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/ZDc3OTZlMDktYWZiMi00OGMyLTk0ZmYtNzY1MGI0ZDhjODIy?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjAvoyG3-P-AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA

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Timestamps:

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 Biolectricity 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 Anaesthesia

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

01:58:38 Thank you