The Importance of Charge in Life

The trouble with only seeing life as a genome is it tends to insist that the genome invent cells as well. Membranes come from other membranes. The spatial setting of the cell is, you know, it comes from other cells. It's not an accident that our technology and where our brains work are all electrical networks. They're just powerful tools for processing information in non-biological ways.

Transcript

chevron_right

Play full episode

chevron_right

Transcript

Episode notes

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

Follow Reason with Science:

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/reasonwithscience

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qFLGsPWjL4GAGidmF2nKh

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reason-with-science/id1641776894

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

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