Illustration by Ryan McAmis
Illustration by Ryan McAmis
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Chimeras and lightning: a radical perspective on the evolution of complex life
Life on earth – from mushrooms to humans and everything in between – seems enormously diverse. At the cellular level, however, almost all complex lifeforms are surprisingly similar. Why life is this way, though, remains mysterious. In this Aeon interview, the UK biochemist and author Nick Lane discusses his research on the connection between energy and genes, which, he hypothesises, made possible the radical transformation from single-celled organisms to complex life about 4 billion years ago.
Interviewer: Nigel Warburton
Producer: Kellen Quinn
Editor: Adam D’Arpino
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Computing and artificial intelligence
Why large language models are mysterious – even to their creators
8 minutes
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Evolution
The many ways a lizard tongue sticks, grasps, pinches and plops – in slo-mo
6 minutes
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Biology
Starlings swoosh like brushstrokes across the sky in this dazzling short
3 minutes
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Engineering
From simple motors to levitating trains – how design shapes innovation
23 minutes
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Ecology and environmental sciences
The tree frog die-off that sparked a global mystery – and revealed a dark truth
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Film and visual culture
Our world has very different contours when a millimetre is blown up to a full screen
8 minutes
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Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
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Knowledge
Why it takes more than a lifetime to truly understand a single meadow
11 minutes
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Physics
Groundbreaking visualisations show how the world of the nucleus gives rise to our own
10 minutes