Listen "99- The Laws of Thermodynamics in Evolution"
Episode Synopsis
Don't worry, you have not in fact stumbled onto a physics podcast. However, the Laws of Thermodynamics do have a rather significant connection to evolutionary biology. This is because, at first glance, they appear to lead to a rather startling conclusion- life should not be able to evolve at all...
Sources for this episode:
Berg, J. M., Tymoczko, J. L. and Stryer, L. (2007), Biochemistry (6th edition). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
Herron, J. C., and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Masanes, L. and Oppenheim, J. (2017), A general derivation and quantification of the third law of thermodynamics. Nature Communications 8: 14538.
Ritchie, R. and Ghent, D. (2015), A Level Chemistry for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sources for this episode:
Berg, J. M., Tymoczko, J. L. and Stryer, L. (2007), Biochemistry (6th edition). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.
Herron, J. C., and Freeman, S. (2015), Evolutionary Analysis. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Masanes, L. and Oppenheim, J. (2017), A general derivation and quantification of the third law of thermodynamics. Nature Communications 8: 14538.
Ritchie, R. and Ghent, D. (2015), A Level Chemistry for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
More episodes of the podcast Biopedia
112- How Common Are Suffix Chains?
21/09/2025
110- The World's Smallest Snake
24/08/2025
109- Colestein Veglin
10/08/2025
108- Titanoboa
27/07/2025
107- Pascal's Triangle in Biology
13/07/2025
105- Former Estimates of Earth's Age
15/06/2025
104- Ming the Mollusc
01/06/2025
103- The Gaia Hypothesis
18/05/2025