Life's big surprises: two videos and a question

Nick Lane's and Matthew Cobb's talks on their engrossing books about cracking the secrets of life and the genetic code are now available on video and have brought to mind an intriguing question"

At the weekend I reviewed two superlative volumes of popular science, The Vital Question by Nick Lane and Life's Greatest Secret by Matthew Cobb. Lane dives to the ocean depths to pick apart the energetics of the chemistry that is likely to have given birth to life on Earth, while Cobb's book is a masterful telling of the ideas, experiments and personalities that eventually cracked the genetic code.

Those tantalised by the books may be pleased to learn that both authors spoke about their subjects at the Royal Institution back in June and the videos of these short talks (which I attended) are now available at the RI Channel. I can recommend both presentations for anyone doubtful about the excitement of ideas conveyed by these two books.