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Science of health derives from the science of life
Posted by Anonymous User
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Anonymous User
Science of health derives from the science of life July 14, 2015 06:04PM |
[new science-of-life book:]
The Vital Question
Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life.
Nick Lane, July 13, 2015 [Read Introduction and (much of) Part I @ [www.amazon.com]
About the author:
Nick Lane is a biochemist and writer. He is a Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. "Like his forebears in that same department -- Steve Jones, JBS Haldane -- he's that rare species, a scientist who can illuminate the bewildering complexities of biology with clear, luminous words" (The Observer). His research focuses on the role of bioenergetics in the origin of life and the evolution of cells. Nick was awarded the first UCL Provost's Venture Research Prize in 2009 and the 2015 Biochemical Society Award. He has published four critically acclaimed books, which have been translated into 20 languages. Life Ascending won the 2010 Royal Society Prize for Science Books. His books have been shortlisted for two other literary prizes and named a book of the year by the Economist, Independent, Times, Sunday Times and New Scientist. He was described by Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek as "a writer who is not afraid to think big - and think hard."
For more information, visit [www.nick-lane.net]
[Keywords: Oxygen. Mitochondrion. Energy]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2015 10:30AM by Moerk.
The Vital Question
Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life.
Nick Lane, July 13, 2015 [Read Introduction and (much of) Part I @ [www.amazon.com]
About the author:
Nick Lane is a biochemist and writer. He is a Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. "Like his forebears in that same department -- Steve Jones, JBS Haldane -- he's that rare species, a scientist who can illuminate the bewildering complexities of biology with clear, luminous words" (The Observer). His research focuses on the role of bioenergetics in the origin of life and the evolution of cells. Nick was awarded the first UCL Provost's Venture Research Prize in 2009 and the 2015 Biochemical Society Award. He has published four critically acclaimed books, which have been translated into 20 languages. Life Ascending won the 2010 Royal Society Prize for Science Books. His books have been shortlisted for two other literary prizes and named a book of the year by the Economist, Independent, Times, Sunday Times and New Scientist. He was described by Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek as "a writer who is not afraid to think big - and think hard."
For more information, visit [www.nick-lane.net]
[Keywords: Oxygen. Mitochondrion. Energy]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2015 10:30AM by Moerk.
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Re: Science of health derives from the science of life July 17, 2015 03:03AM |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 1,750 |
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Re: Science of health derives from the science of life July 17, 2015 03:40PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 18,886 |
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Anonymous User
Re: Science of health derives from the science of life July 17, 2015 05:06PM |
This wonderfully enlightening review of Nick Lane's Vital Question by scientist Josh Mitteldorf perked my interest: [joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com]
Life has been on earth about 4 billion years. If we think of each billion as a term at college, then for its Freshman, Sophomore and Junior years, life majored in chemistry. Every possible chemical environment was probed, drawing its first energy from the warm, hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean, leaving the alkaline silos where life got its start, colonizing the sea and the land, the atmosphere, places cold and hot, wet and dry, acid and base, high in the clouds and deep in rock miles under the earth.
Life as an underclassman was just one cell at a time, and a small cell at that, maybe a micron across, a “prokaryote” that despite its impressive chemical virtuosity had little physical structure and the simplest life cycle. Divide and conquer.
Before his Sophomore year was over, the precocious chemists had figured out how to use the sun’s energy to pull carbon right out of the air, and the entire atmosphere had been processed, molecule by molecule, from (inert) CO2 to (energy-laden) Oxygen. The energy economy of the earth was transformed.
Then, about a billion years ago—life was a rising Senior—a once-in-a-lifetime event occurred, a wild fluke. One of these chemists that specialized in membranes and electrochemistry was invaded and colonized by a parasite that specialized in combustion chemistry—oxidation of sugar, to be specific [i.e. mitochondrian]. The invader put all that atmospheric oxygen to good use, then spewed out toxic ROS (reactive oxygen species) that almost killed the host, as it had killed many archaeons before. But this time, the host survived and, over an amazingly short time of just 2 million years, learned not just how to coexist with the invader, but also to domesticate the parasite and put him to work. The host was already using ATP as an energy source, and the parasite had a talent for producing copious quantities of ATP/energy—more than any archaeon had ever seen before. Stick with me, kid and we’ll go far. By the end of Senior year, every plant and animal on earth, every fungus and amoeba, toadstool, jellyfish and (by the way) you and me—every cell in our bodies, all of them are descended from that one sick, infected “hopeful monster”. Her name was LECA, the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor. Everything we think of as macroscopic biology comprises her progeny, in so many different guises.
Because it was in its Senior year that life first got interested in engineering, cell upon cell. Pipelines and networks of roadways, electrical circuits, information processing within and between cells. Muscles, bones, shells, levers, motors and other mechanical devices that were made out of living cells! Locomotion in the sea, on land and air. The greening of earth and sea, predators and prey, webs of interconnected life—all of this is the realm of eukaryotes.
[continue to much more plus comments]
Life has been on earth about 4 billion years. If we think of each billion as a term at college, then for its Freshman, Sophomore and Junior years, life majored in chemistry. Every possible chemical environment was probed, drawing its first energy from the warm, hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean, leaving the alkaline silos where life got its start, colonizing the sea and the land, the atmosphere, places cold and hot, wet and dry, acid and base, high in the clouds and deep in rock miles under the earth.
Life as an underclassman was just one cell at a time, and a small cell at that, maybe a micron across, a “prokaryote” that despite its impressive chemical virtuosity had little physical structure and the simplest life cycle. Divide and conquer.
Before his Sophomore year was over, the precocious chemists had figured out how to use the sun’s energy to pull carbon right out of the air, and the entire atmosphere had been processed, molecule by molecule, from (inert) CO2 to (energy-laden) Oxygen. The energy economy of the earth was transformed.
Then, about a billion years ago—life was a rising Senior—a once-in-a-lifetime event occurred, a wild fluke. One of these chemists that specialized in membranes and electrochemistry was invaded and colonized by a parasite that specialized in combustion chemistry—oxidation of sugar, to be specific [i.e. mitochondrian]. The invader put all that atmospheric oxygen to good use, then spewed out toxic ROS (reactive oxygen species) that almost killed the host, as it had killed many archaeons before. But this time, the host survived and, over an amazingly short time of just 2 million years, learned not just how to coexist with the invader, but also to domesticate the parasite and put him to work. The host was already using ATP as an energy source, and the parasite had a talent for producing copious quantities of ATP/energy—more than any archaeon had ever seen before. Stick with me, kid and we’ll go far. By the end of Senior year, every plant and animal on earth, every fungus and amoeba, toadstool, jellyfish and (by the way) you and me—every cell in our bodies, all of them are descended from that one sick, infected “hopeful monster”. Her name was LECA, the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor. Everything we think of as macroscopic biology comprises her progeny, in so many different guises.
Because it was in its Senior year that life first got interested in engineering, cell upon cell. Pipelines and networks of roadways, electrical circuits, information processing within and between cells. Muscles, bones, shells, levers, motors and other mechanical devices that were made out of living cells! Locomotion in the sea, on land and air. The greening of earth and sea, predators and prey, webs of interconnected life—all of this is the realm of eukaryotes.
[continue to much more plus comments]
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