Nick Lane, Origins of Life

Dr. Nick Lane is a biochemist and author at University College in London. He is responsible for a number of my favorite works in biochemical literature, including the books Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution and The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution and the Origins of Complex Life. All of his books are fantastic reads, but beyond the scope of this short course.

Instead of reading his books we will be studying the following:

• The Origins of Life Podcast with Nick Lane. This is a good introduction into the questions we will be answering in the course. Please review this by Tuesday July 25th. The Podcast
• Why is Life the Way it is? This is a lecture at Royal Society by Nick Lane. We will be watching this in class, but you should review it again if possible. The Lecture
• The Cradle of Life This simpler article will help us understand the next article. Please have it read by Friday, July 28th. Read the article here!
• Bioenergetic Constraints on the Evolution of Complex Life. This is a longer, more complex paper than we may be used to reading. We will be covering this by Monday, July 31st. Read the article here!

Due dates: Please have listened to The Origins of Life Podcast by 25July. Please have read The Cradle of Life by 28July. Please have read Bioenergetic Constraints by 31July.

You can find more about Nick Lane from his website http://nick-lane.net/