# Transformer

- Author: [Nick Lane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane.md)
- Quotes: 13
- Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer

## Quotes

> [M]etabolic flux... Even a simple bacterial cell can undergo... a billion trnasformations per second... is... what being alive is.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/m-etabolic-flux-even.md)

> The driving force of is thermodynamics. ...[I]n this context ...the chemical need to react (to dissipate energy) in the same way that water needs to flow downhill.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/the-driving-force.md)

> The double helix of DNA... is composed of two long chains [of 'letters'] that snake around each other... each strand providing an exact template for the other. ...[E]ach strand ...contains just four types of letter, with ...billions ...arranged down... the chain. ...3,000 million letters ...make up the human genome ...[T]he same — the same lines of code — can have different effects depending on the context.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/the-double-helix.md)

> became the study of how... simple molecules were interconnected one into another. ...The [simple] molecules ...containing ...up to about twenty carbons, but most ...have fewer than ten.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/became-the-study.md)

> If the Krebs cycle is ordained by thermodynamics, then it should take place spontaneously in some suitably propitious envirnonment, even in the absence of s.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/if-the-krebs.md)

> The inner logic of ... Much of it is imposed by thermodynamics; some is facilitated by catalysts. Some is refined by genes. And part stems from the vicissitudes of life itself, which forced evolution down improbable paths, while transforming our geologically restless globe from a sterile, anoxic planet into the living, high-octane world of today.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/the-inner-logic.md)

> The is riddled with redundancy.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/the-is-riddled.md)

> It is the movement that creates the form.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/it-is-the.md)

> Flux is a form of flow, but with one crucial difference. ...In biochemistry flux is the flow of things that are transformed along the way.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/flux-is-a-form.md)

> [B]iochemical pathways that produce the basic building blocks of life are... conserved across practically all cells.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/b-iochemical-pathways-that.md)

> This book will explore how the flow of energy and matter structures the evolution of life and even genetic information.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/this-book-will.md)

> For decades, biology has been dominated by information—the power of genes. ...[Y]et there is no difference in the information content of a living protozoon and one that died ...The difference between alive and dead lies in energy flow ...the ability of cells to continually regenerate themselves from simpler building blocks.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/for-decades-biology.md)

> Even the laws of thermodynamics... can be recast in terms of information — Shannon entropy, the laws of bits of information. But this view generates its own paradox at the origin of life. ...Place information at the heart of life, and there is a problem with the emergence of function ...the origin of biological information. There are problems... in understanding why we age and die... diseases... and how experiences can give rise to conscious mind. ...A far better question ...what processes animate cells and set them apart from inanimate matter?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/even-the-laws.md)