In a new book, physicist Sara Walker argues that assembly theory can explain what life is, and even help scientists create new forms of it.
What is life and how does one recognize it? asks Walker, an astrobiology professor at Arizona State University, in her bold debut. Defining life is a deceptively tricky endeavor, she argues, noting that the claim popular in scientific circles that “life is a self-sustaining chemical system capable of Darwinian evolution” would mean that worker bees aren’t alive because they can’t reproduce.
Sara Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist. She is the author of a new book titled "Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence"
Two astrobiologists investigate extraterrestrial existence in The Secret Life of the Universe and Life As No One Knows It
An intriguing new scientific theory that explains what life is and how it emerges. What is life? This is among the most difficult open problems in science, right up there with the nature of consciousness and the existence of matter. All the definitions we have fall short. None help us understand how life originates or the full range of possibilities for what life on other planets might look like.
Join us this National Science Week for a journey into a future that is coming sooner than you think. A future where artificial intelligence intersects with human cognition, consciousness, and even life itself. Imagine a world where our brains are enhanced through cognitive advancements, merging organic and digital networks to unlock unprecedented potential. What does this mean for intelligence, human agency and consciousness?
The Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University is seeking postdoctoral candidates to join Professor Sara Walker's interdisciplinary ELife lab. The Beyond Center at ASU fosters collaborative and innovative thinking on some of the biggest questions in science and the Walker lab team conducts theoretical research aiming to uncover fundamental principles that explain life, ranging from current biological and technological examples to synthetic life and the potentialities for alien life on other planets.
We are honored to welcome the great theoretical physicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist – Paul Davies – as a @Quantum Collaborative advisor.
Davies joins us with an extensive history of worldwide achievements and accolades. A renowned science communicator and researcher, Davies has authored countless research papers and best-selling books on topics such as quantum gravity, early universe cosmology, the theory of quantum black holes and the nature of time.
Dr. Davies joins other renowned and highly regarded astrophysics, astrobiology, space exploration, mathematics and technology business experts to the Copernicus SSAB. Each brings exceptional expertise, wisdom and vision to Copernicus, and will contribute to optimized scientific, technological and business model strategies.
What are the implications of Einstein’s predictions? Has our understanding of reality integrated the implications of this thinking? His General and Special theories of relativity have completely changed the way we see gravity, energy, mass, space and time, even size - but how? Physicists may find it easy to understand what his ideas mean; like this quote “The distinction between the past, the present and the future is nothing but a stubbornly persistent illusion”.