An opera singer and precision instrument sales associate help Adam and Alexis probe the definitions of life and some edge cases.

Footnotes:

Lottie’s Youtube channel:
https://youtu.be/R74ksJfYNzE

Schroedinger’s – What is life?
Schrodinger, R. and Schrödinger, E., 1992. What is life?: With mind and matter and autobiographical sketches. Cambridge University Press.

Dictionary definition of life
Dictionary.cambridge.org. 2020. LIFE | Meaning In The Cambridge English Dictionary. [online] Available at: <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/life> [Accessed 18 April 2020].
Merriam-webster.com. 2020. Definition Of BIOLOGY. [online] Available at: <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/biology> [Accessed 18 April 2020].

Orthodox definitions of life
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5563/2215
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mars141.php
Koshland, D.E., 2002. The seven pillars of life. Science, 295(5563), pp.2215-2216.
Phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu. 2020. Phoenix Mars Mission – Education – Mars 101 – Habitability And Biology. [online] Available at: <http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mars141.php> [Accessed 18 April 2020].

MRS GREN/NERG
Cooke, V. and Howard, C., 2016. Key Concepts in Primary Science: Audit and Subject Knowledge. Critical Publishing.

Are computers alive?
MacKay, D. and Simons, G., 1983. Are Computers Alive-Evolution and New Life Forms

Plants bend towards light
Thimann, K.V. and Curry, G.M., 1960. Phototropism and phototaxis. Comparative biochemistry, 1, pp.243-309.

On the Motion of Animals
Aristotle. and Nussbaum, M., 1985. Aristotle’s De Motu Animalium. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

The Turing test
Saygin, A.P., Cicekli, I. and Akman, V., 2000. Turing test: 50 years later. Minds and machines, 10(4), pp.463-518.

Video of Google AI passing the Turing test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvbHu_bVa_g

Are viruses alive?
A discussion between 2 microbiologists
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Bhella/publication/305235846_Are_viruses_alive/links/5be0222b4585150b2b9faed8/Are-viruses-alive.pdf

Brown, N. and Bhella, D., 2016. Are viruses alive?. Microbiology Today, 43(2), pp.58-61.

Nasas definition of life
Astrobiology.nasa.gov. 2020. NASA Astrobiology. [online] Available at: <https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/research/life-detection/about/> [Accessed 18 April 2020].

Transposon
Feschotte, C. and Pritham, E.J., 2007. DNA transposons and the evolution of eukaryotic genomes. Annu. Rev. Genet., 41, pp.331-368.

Endosymbiosis
Archibald, J.M., 2015. Endosymbiosis and eukaryotic cell evolution. Current Biology, 25(19), pp.R911-R921.

Shadow biosphere
Davies, P.C., Benner, S.A., Cleland, C.E., Lineweaver, C.H., McKay, C.P. and Wolfe-Simon, F., 2009. Signatures of a shadow biosphere. Astrobiology, 9(2), pp.241-249.

Science Across the Pond

Episodes

1-What is Life