nick lane transformer the deep chemistry of life and death

They use energy to turn gases from the environment-carbon dioxide and hydrogen-into the key building blocks of life, right at the heart of metabolism. The cycle of reactions that strips out CO 2 and hydrogen from food to generate energy can operate in reverse in some of the most ancient bacteria. This charge is as intense as a bolt of lightning-if you shrink yourself down to the size of a molecule, you’d feel an electrical charge of 30 million volts per meter! The energy released is used to power an electrical charge on the membranes deep within our cells. Then we strip out the carbon as CO 2, and we burn the hydrogen in oxygen. These are the intermediates that make up the Krebs cycle. In short, when we burn fuels like glucose in cell respiration, we first break them down into simpler molecules composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Most of us know the Krebs cycle as a cycle of biochemical reactions linked to energy generation in cells. This might seem like stuffy textbook biochemistry from decades ago, but it holds the secret to what brings a planet to life and our own lives to an end. In the beginning was the Krebs cycle.Īt the heart of life is an amazing, conflicted merry-go-round of reactions called the Krebs cycle.

Listen to the audio version-read by Nick himself-in the Next Big Idea App. He has won several awards for his science writing.īelow, Nick shares 5 key insights from his new book, Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death. Nick Lane is a professor of evolutionary biochemistry at University College London.

Nick lane transformer the deep chemistry of life and death