What is life and how does it work? - with Philip Ball
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Published 2024-04-09
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00:00 Intro - what is the secret of life?
04:09 Is the human genome a blueprint or a musical score?
7:58 Crick's central dogma of biology
12:03 What scientists got wrong about genes and proteins
18:50 Why evolution chose disordered proteins
22:27 The process of gene regulation
27:03 Why life doesn't work like clockwork
30:29 The growth of intestinal villi
32:18 Why do we have five fingers?
34:55 Causal emergence
38:09 Do all parts of us have their own agency?
42:46 How does this affect genetic approaches to medicine?
48:09 Why do organisms exist at all?
Philip Ball explores the new biology, revealing life to be a far richer, more ingenious affair than we had guessed. There is no unique place to look for an answer to this question: life is a system of many levels—genes, proteins, cells, tissues, and body modules such as the immune system and the nervous system—each with its own rules and principles.
In this talk, discover why some researchers believe that, thanks to incredible scientific advancements, we will be able to regenerate limbs and organs, and perhaps even create new life forms that evolution has never imagined.
Philip Ball is a freelance writer and broadcaster, and was an editor at Nature for more than twenty years. He writes regularly in the scientific and popular media and has written many books on the interactions of the sciences, the arts, and wider culture, including 'H2O: A Biography of Water', 'Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour', 'The Music Instinct', and 'Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything'.
Philip's book 'Critical Mass' won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. He is also a presenter of Science Stories, the BBC Radio 4 series on the history of science. He trained as a chemist at the University of Oxford and as a physicist at the University of Bristol. He is the author of 'The Modern Myths' and lives in London.
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All Comments (21)
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If you liked this one you can watch more of Philip's talks on our channel here - What is a mind? https://youtu.be/uKZWF5amZMg - Is it time to kill Schrödinger's Cat? https://youtu.be/UBI7u4frhak
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I'm so grateful to have access to free education like this
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What a perfect model of a scientist: Floral shirt, tweed vest, mismatched jacket, unruly hair, loose glasses, impeccable language. Love it.
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Philip Ball is remarkably clear thinking and well spoken, in an engaging and sometimes funny way. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned a lot!
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His book 'designing the molecular world' published in 1990s was my favorite popular science book. It captured excitement in chemistry during that time. Many topics have gone on to get recognition by the nobel committee.
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Like so many great RI lectures, rather than trying to answer the big question, the speaker probes at why we need to ask it. Many of the subjects raised here are new to me but I feel as though this talk was aimed at me. Brilliant.
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Terrific lecture. One of the best on YT.
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Not mentioned in the description is a very educational book he wrote called "Designing the Molecular World" (or "Designing for the Molecular World" I don't recall offhand), but I learned more about actual chemistry and how things work at the nanoscale enough to get a visceral intuition for it. Yes, I HIGHLY recommend it.
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What a fantastic lecture!! I shared it with many people 😊
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And this is how a "watchmaker's argument" crumbles... Wonderful talk. Thank you Royal Institution! Sharing knowledge is simply wonderful and I'm so happy I can watch a lecture over a thousand kilometers away almost instantly. What an amazing time we live in 😏
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A fascinating, absorbing, brilliantly presented lecture! Thank you for sharing.
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This talk was amazing. Thank you!
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Am so glad for my membership that I can watch this, and other presentations of the RI.Thanks so much xo
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My favourite lecture of all time. Thank you
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Beautifully said! THANK YOU!
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Wow...such an amazing lecture. Thank you Ri for uploading this❤
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Brilliant exposition of a complex subject.
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Thank you Philip, Thank you Ri!
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Just awesome! Magnificent talk, and an exquisite book from a brave brave scientist!
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Excellent!
