Nick Lane: Hvorfor er livet slik det er?
Det er et sort hull i biologiens kjerne. Vi vet ikke hvorfor det komplekse livet har blitt slik det er, eller hvordan livet først startet. I denne Horisont-forelesningen vil den prisvinnende forfatteren og biokjemikeren Nick Lane lage en ny ramme rundt evolusjonens historie, og foreslå en løsning på problemer som har vært en gåte for vitenskapsfolk i generasjoner.
Hovedinnhold
The lecture is held in English.
The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies and cities. Yet there’s a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is, or, for that matter, how life first began. In this lecture, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.
For two and a half billion years, from the very origins of life, single-celled organisms such as bacteria evolved without changing their basic form. Then, on just one occasion in four billion years, they made the jump to complexity. All complex life, from mushrooms to man, shares puzzling features, such as sex, which are unknown in bacteria. How and why did this radical transformation happen?
The answer, Lane argues, lies in energy: all life on Earth lives off a voltage with the strength of a lightning bolt. Building on the pillars of evolutionary theory, Lane’s hypothesis draws on cutting-edge research into the link between energy and cell biology, in order to deliver a compelling account of evolution from the very origins of life to the emergence of multicellular organisms, while offering deep insights into our own lives and deaths.
Light refreshments will be served before the lecture, which starts at 16.15 pm on Tuesday 20 of February in Nash Auditorium at VilVite (please note new location!). Everybody is welcome!
About the speaker:
Dr Nick Lane is a British biochemist and writer. He was awarded the first Provost’s Venture Research Prize in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London, where he is now a Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry.
His research research deals with evolutionary biochemistry and bioenergetics, focusing on the origin of life and the evolution of complex cells.
Read more on Dr Lane's web pages.
This lecture is a joint event between the Horizons seminar series of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and The Darwin Day in Bergen.
The Horizons series
The Horizons series is a lecture series for staff and students of The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, and for all others that are interested in major scientific questions and/or challenges across disciplinary borders.
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