

132 | Michael Levin on Growth, Form, Information, and the Self
17 snips Feb 1, 2021
Michael Levin, a distinguished professor at Tufts University and director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, dives into how organisms develop through a blend of genetics, physical constraints, and information theory. He discusses the fascinating ability of frogs and planarians to regenerate and adapt, challenging traditional views of genetics as mere instruction sets. The conversation explores goal-directedness in biology, the complexity of cellular interactions, and the ethical implications of merging biology with technology.
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Organism Construction
- Organisms aren't built like IKEA furniture from blueprints.
- DNA contains instructions, but the building process is more complex than a simple set of steps.
Tadpole Experiment
- Michael Levin's lab rearranged tadpole faces, yet they grew correctly.
- This suggests genomes encode error reduction, aiming for a remembered target shape.
Genome's Role
- Genomes don't contain blueprints for shape but recipes for proteins.
- We can't predict an organism's shape from its genome; it's like getting a description of screw material, not shelf design.