Why is Life the Way it Is? with Nick Lane
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN points to it as an accessible presentation of Lane's ideas on life's origins and the rarity of complex life.
What it is
Nick Lane's Royal Institution lecture on the origin of life and why it is the way it is. It draws on his book The Vital Question and the alkaline hydrothermal vent theory of abiogenesis.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2016 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Cites okket · 2016-05 · on “This Biology Book Blew Me Away”
There is also his "Why is Life the Way it Is?" talk he held last year at the Royal Institution. [this video]
Cites cmrdporcupine · 2020-06 · on “Are planets with oceans common in the galaxy? It's likely, NASA scientists find”
Biochemist Nick Lane espouses the 'alkalkine thermal vent' theory of abiogenesis and believes that single celled prokaryotic type life is almost inevitable on any planet that has or has had a mildly acidic ocean and active plate tectonics with aklaline thermal vents. It's a pretty convincing theory. _Complex_ cellular life (eukaryotic) is another story entirely. There's no reason to believe they progress inevitably from bacteria. Bacteria have been happily doing their thing without much change for the last 3.5 billion (or more) years. The development of eukaryotes seems like mostly a fluke, and they are very young in evolutionary history. And weird. Very weird. [this video]
Cites AareyBaba · 2022-08 · on “A biochemist’s view of life’s origin reframes cancer and aging”
You can watch his presentations at the Royal Institute. How the Krebs cycle powers life and death - [LINK] Why is Life the Way it Is? [this video]