302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolution

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Sean Carroll | Wondery

Society & Culture, Physics, Philosophy, Science, Ideas, Society

4.8 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2025

⏱️ 91 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Randomness plays an important role in the evolution of life (as my evil twin will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological organisms are physical objects, after all, and subject to the same laws of physics as non-biological matter is. Those laws place constraints on how organisms can fulfill their basic functions of metabolism, reproduction, motility, and so on. Easy to say, but how can we turn this into quantitative understanding of actual organisms? Today I talk with physical biologist Chris Kempes about how physics can help us understand the size of organisms, their metabolisms, and features of major transitions in evolution.

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Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/20/302-chris-kempes-on-the-biophysics-of-evolution/

Chris Kempes received his Ph.D. in physical biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently Professor and a member of the Science Steering Committee at the Santa Fe Institute. His research involves the origin of life and the constraints placed by physics on biological function and evolution.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	With the new Lloyd's app, you can do it all.
0:02.8	You can freeze your card if you misplace it.
0:05.4	Whilst you search behind the sofa.
0:07.4	Blame the dog.
0:08.2	Run upstairs. Run downstairs.
0:10.0	Empty your bag.
0:10.8	Look behind the sofa again.
0:12.4	Only to realise it's in your back pocket.
0:14.3	Curse quietly under your breath and unfreeze your card.
0:16.8	Shove everything back in your bag.
0:18.0	Take a deep breath.
0:19.6	Smile and run for the boss.
0:22.2	Freeze and unfreeze your card at the touch of a button.
0:25.3	The power to do it all on the new Lloyd's app.
0:28.0	Download now.
0:29.0	Please and seize it play.
0:30.2	Hello everyone.
0:30.9	Welcome to the Mindscape podcast.
0:32.2	I'm your host, Sean Carroll.
0:33.7	Have you all heard about the centimeter-long bacterium?
0:37.9	I had not heard about this until this podcast, as you will discover, but just a couple
0:42.6	years ago, scientists found a kind of bacterium called Thio-Margarita Magnifica, which can
	...

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