Alive: what life is, how it works, and why it matters (Theatre)

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Living beings are not machines, but embodied, self-organising entities whose activity is directed towards staying alive. In this thought-provoking conversation, author Melanie Challenger is joined by biochemist Nick Lane and science writer Philip Ball to explore some of the most fundamental questions in science and philosophy.

Drawing on Melanie’s new book ‘Alive’, alongside Nick and Philip’s own research, the discussion ranges from the origins of life and the energetic principles that sustain it to emerging ideas about agency, individuality and what distinguishes living beings from inert matter.

Together, they will consider whether recent advances in biology are changing our understanding of life, undermining older ideas of life-forms either gene-driven machines or something more. Join Melanie, Nick and Philip as they approach these questions from different perspectives, and ask what it means to think of living beings as embodied and purposive in their own right.

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Event image Mitchell Luo via Unsplash

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London, United Kingdom

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