3min chapter

Unexplainable cover image

Origins: The meaning of “life”

Unexplainable

CHAPTER

Are Red Blood Cells Alive?

Do things have to be distinct from you to be alive? Well, think about this. There are some kinds of insects like cicadas that grow special organs inside their bodies where certain kinds of bacteria live inside the cells. These bacteria in turn get lots and lots of food from the cicadas. And they cannot live outside of the cicados. They will die. But we ourselves are resident to some former bacteria. Two billion years ago, our single cell ancestors conformed a union with these oxygen-consuming bacteria which later became mitochondria,. We take out our mitochondria, we're dead.

00:00

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode