Life's Information: Evolution Before LUCA
Schedule
Tue Jan 14 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:30 pm
UTC-08:00Location
HopMonk Tavern Novato | Novato, CA
About this Event
All known lifeforms rely on the same molecular mechanism to translate information carried by DNA and RNA into proteins. This translation is accomplished by an incredibly complex system involving many dozens of very large and precisely interacting molecules. All viruses, bacteria, plants, and animals ultimately inherited this common molecular machinery from our Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). But all of this — and much more — had to evolve prior to LUCA. Without this translation machinery, the “genetic code” isn’t information about anything! So, origins-of-life theories can’t just assume that DNA and RNA intrinsically have information. Even the most widely accepted “RNA-World” origin-of-life theory begs the question: What is the origin of life’s information?
Our Wonderfest speaker, Dr. Terrence Deacon, is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. He is the author of two particularly influential books: The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain and Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter.
Where is it happening?
HopMonk Tavern Novato, 224 Vintage Way, Novato, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00