Powering the complexity of life with Michael Levin and Nick Lane
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.
Guest info:
Nick Lane -
Michael Levin -
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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
00:15:35 Evolutionary biology and software of extinct species
00:18:48 Bioelectricity and biology
00:21:45 Bioelectricity at molecular level
00:29:05 Metabolism is central to bioelectric signals
00:32:21 How bioelectric systems evolve?
00:43:33 Emergence of eukaryotes
00:47:05 Multicellularity
01:19:55 Plasticity at the genome level
01:30:02 How the memories are stored?
01:44:00 Ploidy (genome copies) and biology
01:49:00 Anesthesia
01:53:37 Importance of bioelectricity to create synthetic life
01:58:38 Thank you
Music by: Ahmed Hassan (https://www.youtube.com/@2ays577/featured)