鈥淟ife is a self-sustained chemical system capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution.鈥�
That鈥檚 the so-called 鈥淣ASA definition of life.鈥�
Or there鈥檚 Russian-born geneticist Edward Trifonov鈥檚 take: Life is 鈥渟elf-reproduction with variations.鈥�
Or there鈥檚 鈥淟ife is an expected, collectively self-organized property of catalytic polymers.鈥� Or 鈥淟ife is a metabolic network within a boundary.鈥�
It鈥檚 said that, 鈥淭here are as many definitions of life as there are people trying to define it.鈥� And yet, none of those definitions is quite right.
Science writer Carl Zimmer says that鈥檚 strange behavior for scientists: 鈥淚t is as if astronomers kept coming up with new ways to define stars.鈥�
Plus: Linguist Ben Zimmer (no relation to Carl*) on what it means to be human. Or, at least, as much as we can tell about what it means to be human by looking at Dr. Fill, .
*No relation beyond that they鈥檙e brothers, I mean.
GUESTS:
- Ben Zimmer - A linguist, lexicographer, and the language columnist for The Wall Street Journal
- Carl Zimmer - The science columnist for The New York Times; his newest book is Life鈥檚 Edge: The Search for What It Means To Be Alive
Join the conversation on and .
Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show, which originally aired May 26, 2021.
