Kate Adamala is a chemist at the University of Minnesota. In her Protobiology Lab, she is trying to build a synthetic cell from scratch.  <a href= "http://www.protobiology.org/">Protobiology Lab</a>  <a href= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ip1mQovVI">Adamala’s TEDx talk, “Life But Not Alive”</a>

<description>&lt;p class=""&gt;Kate Adamala is a chemist at the University of Minnesota. In her Protobiology Lab, she is trying to build a synthetic cell from scratch.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=""&gt; &lt;a href= "http://www.protobiology.org/"&gt;Protobiology Lab&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;a href= "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ip1mQovVI"&gt;Adamala’s TEDx talk, “Life But Not Alive”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Kate Adamala is a chemist at the University of Minnesota. In her Protobiology Lab, she is trying to build a synthetic cell from scratch.    

Episode 8. Kate Adamala: Can We Make Life?

Donato Giovannelli is an assistant professor at the University of Naples “Federico II.” He travels to acid lakes and other extreme environments that are the closest thing today to what Earth was like when life began. <a href= "https://donatogiovannelli.wordpress.com/">Giovannelli’s web site</a><a href= "https://twitter.com/d_giovannelli">Giovannelli on Twitter</a>

<description>&lt;p class=""&gt;Donato Giovannelli is an assistant professor at the University of Naples “Federico II.” He travels to acid lakes and other extreme environments that are the closest thing today to what Earth was like when life began.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;a href= "https://donatogiovannelli.wordpress.com/"&gt;Giovannelli’s web site&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href= "https://twitter.com/d_giovannelli"&gt;Giovannelli on Twitter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Donato Giovannelli is an assistant professor at the University of Naples “Federico II.” He travels to acid lakes and other extreme environments that are the closest thing today to what Earth was like when life began.

Episode 7. Donato Giovannelli: Warm Ponds Or Hellish Vents–Where Did Life Begin?

All the life we know is the same: carbon-based, with DNA for genes. (Okay, except for RNA viruses.) But Steven Benner says it doesn’t have to be that way. Benner is a Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution. <a href="http://www.ffame.org/sbenner.php">Benner at FFAME</a>

<description>&lt;p class=""&gt;All the life we know is the same: carbon-based, with DNA for genes. (Okay, except for RNA viruses.) But Steven Benner says it doesn’t have to be that way. Benner is a Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ffame.org/sbenner.php"&gt;Benner at FFAME&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

All the life we know is the same: carbon-based, with DNA for genes. (Okay, except for RNA viruses.) But Steven Benner says it doesn’t have to be that way. Benner is a Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution.

Episode 6. Steven Benner: How Weird Can Life Get?

Jeremy England is a physicist at MIT. He has developed an influential theory of life as a way for matter to dissipate energy. <a href="https://www.englandlab.com/">England’s MIT lab site</a> <a href= "https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-of-the-origin-of-life-20140122/"> An article about England in Quanta</a>

<description>&lt;p class=""&gt;Jeremy England is a physicist at MIT. He has developed an influential theory of life as a way for matter to dissipate energy.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.englandlab.com/"&gt;England’s MIT lab site&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;a href= "https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-of-the-origin-of-life-20140122/"&gt; An article about England in&lt;em&gt; Quanta&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Jeremy England is a physicist at MIT. He has developed an influential theory of life as a way for matter to dissipate energy.

Episode 5. Jeremy England: Why Does Life Exist?

We don’t know how life got its start. But as more evidence emerges, explains astrobiologist Caleb Scharf, only a few theories are emerging as leading contenders. Scharf is the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center at Columbia University. <a href= "http://www.calebscharf.com/">calebscharf.com</a>

<description>&lt;p class=""&gt;We don’t know how life got its start. But as more evidence emerges, explains astrobiologist Caleb Scharf, only a few theories are emerging as leading contenders. Scharf is the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center at Columbia University.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p class=""&gt;&lt;a href= "http://www.calebscharf.com/"&gt;calebscharf.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

We don’t know how life got its start. But as more evidence emerges, explains astrobiologist Caleb Scharf, only a few theories are emerging as leading contenders. Scharf is the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center at Columbia University.

Episode 4. Caleb Scharf: How Did Life Begin?

A series of live conversations between writer Carl Zimmer and eight leading thinkers on the question of what it means to be alive. 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.

What Is Life?

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