Define Life

From: Bishop Sand
Series: Sift
Length: 14:59

What is life? In the first installment of our "origin of life" topic, hear various attempts to define life and ponder the life of the internet. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: Define Life
From: Bishop Sand

Origin_logo_small In the exciting and new field of astrobiology, scientists are attempting to create/find new life. They'd better have a definition of life to probe nature, but surprisingly this definition is very difficult to pin down. Hear scientists squirm to define life and candidly describe their thoughts about various attempts at a definition that lead to an interesting conclusion.

This is the first episode in a longer series focused on issues surrounding the origin of life, where you'll get the world experts giving you insight to the current state of the research through a virtual discussion.

Voices:

Caleb Scharf - Columbia University

Bob Hazen - Carnegie Institution and George Mason University

Dimitar Sasselov - Harvard University

Steven Benner - Westheimer Institute of Science and Technology

Luke Constas - Biology teacher in New York

Stephen Mojzsis - Colorado University and Universite Claude Bernard Lyon

Ben Oppenheimer - American Natural History Museum

Ariel Anbar - Arizona State University

Spencer Wells - National Geographic Society and Cornell University

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Piece Description

In the exciting and new field of astrobiology, scientists are attempting to create/find new life. They'd better have a definition of life to probe nature, but surprisingly this definition is very difficult to pin down. Hear scientists squirm to define life and candidly describe their thoughts about various attempts at a definition that lead to an interesting conclusion.

This is the first episode in a longer series focused on issues surrounding the origin of life, where you'll get the world experts giving you insight to the current state of the research through a virtual discussion.