The Vital Question

Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life

De: Nick Lane

Narrado por: Kevin Pariseau

To explain the mystery of how life evolved on Earth, Nick Lane explores the deep link between energy and genes.

The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.

For two and a half billion years, from the very origins of life, single-celled organisms such as bacteria evolved without changing their basic forms. Then, on just one occasion in four billion years, they made the jump to complexity. All complex life, from mushrooms to man, shares puzzling features, such as sex, which are unknown in bacteria. How and why did this radical transformation happen? The answer, Lane argues, lies in energy: All life on Earth lives off a voltage with the strength of a lightning bolt.

Building on the pillars of evolutionary theory, Lane's hypothesis draws on cutting-edge research into the link between energy and cell biology in order to deliver a compelling account of evolution from the very origins of life to the emergence of multicellular organisms while offering deep insights into our own lives and deaths.

Both rigorous and enchanting, The Vital Question provides a solution to life's vital question: Why are we as we are, and indeed, why are we here at all?

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2015 Nick Lane (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Ouch!

I like popular science books – over the years they have been my favourite reads and listens. I’m always looking out for new ones, so when the author of the seminal popular science book, ‘The Selfish Gene’, recommended this popular science book in a newspaper article I read I jumped onto Audible to download it. The only problem is that, for me, it wasn’t popular science, it was rocket science.

I’d like to tell you what the book is about, but I’m not really sure. I’m currently on my second listen because I’m determined to try to understand it – but I think I’m losing this battle.
The author tries very hard to make it comprehensible to the intelligent lay person with a bit of scientific knowledge, but either I don’t meet these criteria, or he fails. There are lengthy passages all about the biochemistry taking place inside a cell and I was totally lost. Here’s what I think I did sort of understand:

Life started with single celled creatures (prokaryotes) and then suddenly multi-celled creatures (eukaryotes) came on the scene. People have always thought this was a straightforward progression as the single celled-creatures would have joined together to form multi-celled ones but if that was the case you would expect to find bacteria joining up to form multicellular life forms all over the place, but that isn’t the case. Every single eukaryote (all plants, animals, birds, fish, fungus etc) alive today traces its origin back to a single common ancestor (or a single colony in any case). So it must be really hard for prokaryotes to join together like this and it must have taken very rare and special circumstances.

The fundamental problem seems to be a lack of energy. If a prokaryote gets bigger, then it can no longer transfer energy efficiently because the machinery for this is near the cell walls, and this leaves a giant blob of useless soup in the middle of the cell that can’t perform metabolism because it’s too far from the cell walls where the energy is. So that limits the size of single celled organisms. Prokaryotes don’t have mitochondria, and these organelles seem to be the magic trick that appears to make multicellular life possible.

The author argues that the most likely place where mitochondria could have evolved is in underwater alkaline hydrothermal vents. The most incomprehensible sections of the book are where he explains why these chemical environments are so well suited to this purpose.

So it was a rare event that’s happened only once (successfully) in the history of life on this planet, and it could theoretically also happen occasionally on other planets, because physics is the same throughout the universe.

I think…I think that’s what he’s saying. Anyway, judging by the reviews, other people have managed to understand it, so if you think you know your cellular biochemistry then I’m sure it’s an excellent book. If you don’t, then I wouldn’t recommend it.

Very Informative

Not being a biology, chemistry, or physics major in college and having had only the introductory courses in each I will have to listen to this book several times to realize it's full impact and depth. It certainly helps one to realize the complexity of the cosmos in which we live. Although, to really understand the knowledge it imparts I am going to not only listen to it many more times but to stop ever so often and truly attempt to assimilate what I hear.

Really interesting and well presented new thoughts

A great presentation of the biochemical basis of evolution, why it's almost inevitable from first principles... but that the step from prokaryotes (bacteria, etc) to eukaryotes (complex cells with a nucleus, mitochondria, etc) was probably singular (happened only once successfully) in the past ... may the proton flux power always be with you!

Fascinating read

A highly technical but fascinating and thorough hypothesis on the origins of life. Satisfying propositions for how we came to be and the processes underlying the most important aspects of our existence

makes me want to review biology

being well out of college and medical school, I haven't had much interest in reviewing cell biology and biochemistry, but this book has made me purchase more on that subject, as it relates it all to the origin of life and bigger questions.

Top Tier Presentation

What made the experience of listening to The Vital Question the most enjoyable?

The author's concise, entertaining, and intelligent presentation of the material. And then Kevin Pariseau gave it some further propellant in his slick narration.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Vital Question?

This is not one of those "memorable moments" presentations. Instead, it was a compelling and multi-layered treatise, building basic science first then expanding eloquently into the great questions under study, the main one of course being a discussion of how life might have emerged out of inorganic structure. I really enjoyed his explanation of the bioenergetics behind each hypothesis. On the other hand one must bear in mind that much of this material is speculative in nature due to the great gulf of deep time that lies between the emergence of life and the present moment.

Which character – as performed by Kevin Pariseau – was your favorite?

The mighty mitochondrion, of course.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, a rare breath of fresh air compared to a lot of books.

Any additional comments?

Kevin Pariseau took this brilliant material and made it smooth and enjoyable. I had to nick one star off a complete five star rating in all categories because of a few moments of redundant rambling that occurred here and there, but these interludes were rare.

Fascinating!

How did life come to exist? What are the mechanisms that keep it going? Could there possibly be life on another world? This book answers these questions and more in an entertaining and engaging way. Although a basic understanding of cellular biology is helpful, Lane always reviews basic principles before diving into the meat of his story. I would probably have to read it again to understand half of the details he provides, but understanding everything is not necessary to get the big picture and still learn a lot! Definitely worth a credit.

Mind-blowing explanation of evolution

Similar to The Selfish Gene, this book systematically asks and answers deep questions, leading you backward through the evolution of ancient single-celled organisms and how they might have combined to form primitive multi-celled organisms. The author brilliantly explains how geochemistry predates the biochemistry of organisms, and how recent advances in genetics and tracing the flow of energy help to explain recent versions of the tree of life.

energy is the key driver of evolution.

the power plants that are within each of our cells, our mitochondria, are a wonder of the universe...this book is pedantic, but mind expanding if you are patient and let nick lane try to answer the vital question.

New answers for an old question.

Interesting approach to the origins and evolution of life. Also, insightful ideas about reproduction, ageing, diseases, degeneration, and death. I struggled following the book thru audio, even with the pdf figures. This is another book that will requires reading. The audio was a good firt-cut for such complex and fascinating subject.