The Meaning of Life Episode 63 by Cris Felipe-Alves (Click here...

The Meaning of Life

Episode 63 by Cris Felipe-Alves (Click here to directly access the MP3)

(Access the full transcript)

What’s alive? What does it take to be alive? It’s easy to point at a big thing like a giraffe or a human and say “That’s definitely alive.” But what about cells? Bacteria? And Viruses? The question of what is “alive” has been debated and explored by scientists for generations - Listen to our podcast to learn more!

For more information, check out the scientific discussion in “Nature Reviews: Microbiology”

Ten reasons to exclude viruses from the tree of life

Reasons to include viruses in the tree of life

Six comments on the ten reasons for the demotion of viruses

Ten good reasons not to exclude giruses from the evolutionary picture

There is no such thing as a tree of life (and of course viruses are out!)

Viral genomes are part of the phylogenetic tree of life

Compelling reasons why viruses are relevant for the origin of cells

Cris Felipe-Alves has worked as a researcher in both academic and private environments. He’s currently finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Otago (UoO) in New Zealand before moving permanently to the West Coast of Canada. He’s also an alumni of the UoO’s Centre for Science Communication with specialization in Natural History Filmmaking and Communications. Watch some of his YouTube movies. Learn more about Cris from his LinkedIn resume.