Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Life's Catalyst: RNA with Thomas Cech [Ep. 423]

Jun 4, 2024

Nobel laureate Thomas Cech discusses the catalytic properties of RNA, suggesting it may have played a crucial role in the origins of life. The conversation explores the transformative potential of RNA, its relationship with DNA, and its role in biology's mysteries. Topics include CRISPR, the end of life, and the potential of RNA in communicating with extraterrestrial beings.

57:24

Episode guests

Thomas Cech

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

RNA's catalytic properties showcase its role in life's origins and evolution.

Interdisciplinary collaboration and passion are essential for scientific breakthroughs and education innovation.

Deep dives

The Miraculous Molecule RNA: Unveiling Biology's Revolution

RNA, long overshadowed by DNA, now plays a central role in biology's most significant revolutions. Thomas Czech, Nobel laureate, highlights RNA's significance, sharing insights from his pioneering work. His book, 'The Catalyst,' explores how RNA unlocks life's mysteries and offers a key to understanding life's origins and future.

Introduction

2min

Exploring 'The Catalyst'

6min

Exploring Catalysts in Biology and Chemistry

2min

Unveiling RNA's Catalytic Power

23min

RNA Therapies and Tissue Delivery Challenges

3min

RNA: From CRISPR to Dark Matter Detection

16min

Embracing Being Wrong and the Progress in Science

2min

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How did life begin? What makes us human? Why do we get sick and grow old?

For more than half a century, we've searched for answers to these questions in DNA. But after a series of groundbreaking discoveries, attention has turned to RNA, the long-overlooked molecule that is now at the heart of biology's greatest mysteries.

Here today, to shed light on this topic, is none other than the Nobel laureate Thomas Cech. Thomas shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. He discovered that RNA could cut strands of RNA itself, suggesting that life might have started as RNA, and found that RNA can not only transmit instructions but also speed up the necessary reactions.

His upcoming book, The Catalyst, promises to bring years of pioneering research to the forefront, demonstrating how RNA holds the key to understanding life on Earth—from its very origins to our future.

Join us as we explore the most transformative breakthroughs in biology and beyond on this episode of Into the Impossible!

Key Takeaways:

00:00 Intro
01:17 What is life?
02:05 Judging a book by its cover
05:44 Does profit drive innovation?
10:51 The RNA breakthrough
14:40 Is DNA a one-trick pony?
24:54 Panspermia, DNA and RNA
29:25 RNA’s role in the end of life
37:01 CRISPR
42:09 Are DNA and RNA the only two informational molecules?
46:57 The future of education
51:38 The greatest thing humans have ever done
53:08 What Thomas has been wrong about
54:22 Outro

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➡️ Learn more about Thomas Cech:

💻 Nobel Prize: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1989/cech/facts/

📚 Get The Catalyst on Amazon: https://a.co/d/9oaErgg

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Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.

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