What Is Life? #3: From Frankenstein to a Laboratory Flask

“What Is Life?” is an eight-episode podcast series recorded in front of a live audience. (Subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, via RSS, etc.)

In this episode, I spoke to H. James Cleaves, a professor at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Tokyo and co-author of A Brief History of Creation: Science and the Search for the Origin of Life. Today, the origin of life is a scientific question that researchers around the world are trying to answer. But, as Cleaves explains, virtually no one thought of this particular question 200 years ago. It took some visionaries — including Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein — to shift our view of life to something that could arise through natural processes.

Update: If you’d like to learn more about scientists exploring the borderlands between the living and nonliving worlds, check out my new book Life’s Edge: The Search For What It Means To Be Alive.

Links:
Cleaves at ELSI
A Brief History of Creation

If you enjoyed this episode, listen to Episode 4 or check out all eight episodes on the main podcast page. And please spread the word however you can, such as reviewing it on Apple and elsewhere!

What Is Life? was recorded in front of a live audience at Caveat in New York and is supported by a grant from Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation initiative. Artwork by Caryn Audenried.