The Vital Question

By Nick Lane

Categories: Science & Math

Biochemist Nick Lane asks why complex life is the way it is, and how life began on Earth at all. His 2015 book argues that the answers lie in the deep link between energy and genes. Lane proposes that life began in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where natural chemical gradients could power the first cells. He argues that a single chance merger between two simple cells, which gave rise to mitochondria, made complex life possible, and he traces how that event shaped traits from sex to aging.

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• Matt Ridley
• Bill Gates
• Keith Rabois: “First four books to read in 2017.”
• Shane Parrish: “Biologist Nick Lane is trying to answer what he considers the unanswered question in biology: What is the origin of complex life? How was life synthesized from inorganic matter like carbon and hydrogen?”