From Atoms to Animals: The Vital Force in Biology

Multimedia · Tue Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2008

OSTI ID:1014052

Kornberg, Roger ^[1]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Perhaps the most significant event in intellectual history has occurred over the past several decades, a convergence of the sciences, a blurring of the distinctions between disciplines, from physics to chemistry to biology. Fundamental questions about human existence have been answered in chemical terms. What brings matter to life? What are our origins? What is the basis of cognitive activity? These and related questions have been a fertile area for philosophy and nonscientific analysis. The long history of such alternative approaches persists to this day. Life chemistry is explained by protein catalysts, in their simplest form known as enzymes, and in their full complexity, referred to as molecular machines. An example of great significance is the so-called transcription machinery, which reads out the genetic code, to direct the formation and function of all living things. The atomic structure of the transcription machinery was determined at Stanford, with the use of intense X-ray beams and facilities at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at SLAC. The result is an image of this complex machinery in action, bringing genetic information to life.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515
• OSTI ID: 1014052
• Resource Relation: Conference: SLAC Public Lecture Series, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California, presented on February 26, 2008
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
ATOMS
BIOLOGY
CATALYSTS
CHEMISTRY
CONVERGENCE
ENZYMES
FERMILAB ACCELERATOR
GENETICS
MACHINERY
PHYSICS
PROTEINS
STANFORD LINEAR ACCELERATOR CENTER
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
TRANSCRIPTION
SLAC
MOLECULAR MACHINES
PROTEIN CATALYSTS
RNA
TRANSCRIPTION MACHINERY
X-RAY BEAMS