What Is Life?: Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology

by Ed Regis

In 1944, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Erwin Schrödinger published a groundbreaking little book called What Is Life? In fewer than one hundred pages, he argued that life was not a mysterious or inexplicable phenomenon, as many people believed, but a scientific process like any other, ultimately explainable by the laws of physics and chemistry.



Today, more than sixty years later, members of a new generation of scientists are attempting to create life from the ground up. Science has moved forward in leaps and bounds since Schrödinger's time, but our understanding of what does and does not constitute life has only grown more complex. An era that has already seen computer chip-implanted human brains, genetically engineered organisms, genetically modified foods, cloned mammals, and brain-dead humans kept "alive" by machines is one that demands fresh thinking about the concept of life.



While a segment of our national debate remains stubbornly mired in moral quandaries over abortion, euthanasia, and other "right to life" issues, the science writer Ed Regis demonstrates how science can and does provide us with a detailed understanding of the nature of life. Written in a lively and accessible style, and synthesizing a wide range of contemporary research, What Is Life? is a brief and illuminating contribution to an age-old debate.

Genres: Science, Biology, Nonfiction, Biography

208 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Ed Regis holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from New York University and taught for many years at Howard University. He is now a full-time science writer, contributing to Scientific American, Harper's Magazine, Wired, Discover, and The New York Times, among other periodicals.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Despite the enormous fund of information that [biologists] have provided," wrote Carl Sagan in 1970, "it is a remarkable fact that...there is no generally accepted definition of life." This book provides a gripping, (very) brief tour of the present "enormous fund of information" we now have on living functions:

1) Replication (the discovery of DNA in 1954; the breaking of the nucleotide/amino-acid Genetic Code in the 1960s--on through the Recombinant DNA revolution of the 1970s through "synthetic" viruses composed from genetic scratch in the 1980s),
2) Metabolism (the Krebs cycle; the universal role of ATP),
3) Evolution (the Modern Synthesis uniting genetics and natural selection)

Regis also describes attempts in this century to devise novel lifelike systems in the form of artificial "protocells" and chemical "chells"

Despite this veritable avalanche of information of how living systems work, it remains a baffling fact that the simple question, "What is life?" remains as disputed as ever. One begins to wonder whether this question might be an empty philosopher's quixotic quest. In this spirit, there might be something to be said for Edouard Machery's dilemma-diagnosis in his essay (discussed by Regis), "Why I Stopped Worrying About the Definition of Life...and Why You Should as Well" (2006): "the project of defining life is either impossible or pointless," he writes, since either 'life' refers to "a traditional and ill-defined 'folk notion'" or else the definition of 'life' is to be fixed by "a precise, scientific theoretical concept." If the former, then defining 'life' slides into Socratic silliness; but, if the latter, then *every* scientific sub-discipline will have its own 'fixed' definition...and there's nothing to be said beyond that (pp. 158-159).

I can't help but think that anyone who gives Regis's primer a read will soon be inspired to follow up by exploring many of the scientific vistas Regis points out.

[Dan Heil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisiting both Schrödinger's eponymous collection of lectures, as well as the current state of the art of scientists asking that eponymous question, Regis's book is a whistle-stop tour of all the interesting ways in which the mysterious process of Life on Earth is being interrogated to yield new understanding, and possibly new technologies. Scientists are working on constructing a living system from chemical raw ingredients, some think that a sufficiently self-organized system could be considered "alive", no matter what it's made of, and some want to build new forms of life by using the biological ingredients we have at hand to create a Franken-being that will do its master's bidding. Throughout, we meet with several processes which, taken together, seem to constitute the minimum criteria for life. Life is not just one easily quantifiable characteristic. Life is complicated.

[I_da_T_ni_A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parto con la premessa che questo libro mi è stato dato da leggere e generalmente i libri che mi vengono assegnati da qualcun altro non mi fanno impazzire. Nonostante ciò questo libro ha saputo intrattenermi, anche se di biologia io sapessi quasi nulla. Il libro è scritto molto bene ed è perfettamente comprensibile da chi, come me appunto, non sa nulla sull'argomento. Ogni capitolo aggiunge informazioni inerenti qualsiasi argomento che riguardi la vita(evoluzione, metabolismo, perfino l'origine della vita sulla terra), approfondendo la storia di come si è arrivati a quella conclusione, il tutto con un lessico molto semplice. Non lo considero un capolavoro ma se siete in cerca di un libro che vi spieghi in generale cosa contraddistingue i viventi dai non e come siamo nati su questo pianeta questo libro vi piacerà.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the concept! Has many interesting ideas that are explained thoroughly and it flows like a normal book. There are a couple of pictures here and there as well as some humor that adds a nice touch. Ed Regis is a very talented writer. Of course, as it is a nonfictional science book, it was a little bit of a slow read because it’s not really my preferred style of reading, but it was good nonetheless!

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attention captivating, reading this book made my brain feel bigger. Just like schrodinger never answered the question in his version of what is life, neither does Ed Regis. However this book takes you through the life of that question and gives you the many different answers that have been scientifically thought of, while at the same time showing just how hard it is to define the term life

[J.D. Steens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regis begins this book by describing current efforts to create a cell. This leads to a multi-chapter discussion of, "What is life?" Surprisingly, the answer is not so clear, although in the end Regis narrows the range of answers down to metabolism: Life draws energy from the outside to "make something: new structures, new proteins, energy. Metabolism means synthesis...." In other words, life builds self-sustaining structures and systems.

In thinking about this definition, a few things seem to be missing. How did life make the transition from non-life? Was it a soup of chemicals that randomly came together in the right way so that self-sustaining life emerged? If there's random creation, does life have an overarching end, such as survival and reproduction ("moving genes into the next generation, per Dawkins)? If so, how did such ends emerge from randomness? Or, alternatively, as all non-life matter and energy, is life free movement in a different form? If so, might that form involve flexibility ("self" adjustment of structure and action to fit the environment) in how that freedom of movement is to be obtained? And, at the juncture between non-life and life, is this the very beginning of free will and choice about how life's (fixed) end is to be achieved?

Regis does not dig into these questions, but his book does prompt such thinking. He is an excellent writer. This is an excellent book.

[Mazola1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explores some fairly arcane subjects, including the efforts of scientists to create or manufacture an artificial cell that would perform basic biologic functions, putting genes from one species into another, making genes in the laboratory from published genome sequences, and artificial genes. Central to the book is the question of what life is, and how scientists and philosophers have struggled to answer what at first blush seems to be such a simple question, but which has so far eluded a generally accepted answer. Is life something that emerged from an arrangement of molecules? If so, did those molecules self-assemble, or does something else cause life to arise? The book is small and written in easy to understand terms. But it still made my head hurt.

[Coral · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read, though not what I had expected. Perhaps I was looking for something more definitive, something that would come closer to answering the big question. Synthetic biology doesn't play as a large a part in the text as I thought it would from the title.

Instead, it's a summary of how different scientists have approached the beginning of life and have attempted to define life. The writing is very easy to follow and is done in such a way that people with no biology or chemistry background should have no trouble following the ideas presented.

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most original book, but then again you might have guessed that from a book that repeats the title of a classic 60 year old book and has chapters that repeat the titles of some classic papers (e.g., The Spandrels of Saint Marco).

But it is a thoughtful, excellent, enjoyable, if occasionally journalist, overview of the title question. And most important it is completely up-to-date, having been published this year (2008) and including substantial reflections motivated by recent progress in synthetic biology.

At 173 pages it is worth reading it yourself. And if you don

[Fraser Kinnear · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather short book, that doesn't go into much more than a few pages of detail for any one topic. Annoyingly, synthetic biology isn't even mentioned before the last 30 or so pages of the book.

Worth the (quick) read for a cursory review of the history of big milestones in evolutionary biology, but that's all.

[Todd Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK introduction to the theories of life's beginning and somewhat more thorough review of work being done to re-create life in the lab. Also discusses, as the title suggests, different views on the definition of life. The best answer? Though I hate to be a spoiler ..... "metabolism"!

[Eric Wurm · Rating 5 out of 5]

An abbreviated but thorough look into the emergence of synthetic biology and genetic engineering as well as some foresight into the search for abiogenesis. If you love the histories and mysteries of biology as much as I do, this book is for you.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, attempted to answer a difficult question and did a pretty good job. Contains some interesting biochemistry history and provides some interesting ideas about what the future might hold. Definitely worth the read.

[Brandur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Investigating the nature of life in the age of synthetic biology. Speculates on the characteristics of life and history in genetic advancements.

[Brianna]

More of an essay than anything else, but a good way to stimulate thought nonetheless (Also, I liked the book's physical attributes - the size, the weight of the pages, the cover...)

[Austin Riba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating