Crystal Rogers, a developmental biologist at UC Davis, digs into the age-old question of what defines a living being. She explores the criteria that separate life from non-life, highlighting tricky cases like viruses and futuristic androids. Alongside scientist Regina G. Barber, they debate whether entities like the character Data from Star Trek can be deemed alive. Their discussion raises profound questions about existence, consciousness, and the ethical implications of categorizing life, making you rethink everything you thought you knew about being alive.
In this Back To School episode we consider the "List of Life": the criteria that define what it is to be a living thing. Some are easy calls: A kitten is alive. A grain of salt is not. But what about the tricky cases, like a virus? Or, more importantly, what about futuristic android robots? As part of our Black History Month celebration, developmental biologist Crystal Rogers and scientist-in-residence Regina G. Barber dig into what makes something alive, and wade into a Star-Trek-themed debate.
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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Gabriel Spitzer and fact-checked by Anil Oza. The audio engineer was Josh Newell.