# Quote — Nick Lane, Transformer

> 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.

- Author: [Nick Lane](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane.md)
- Book: [Transformer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nick_Lane#Transformer_(2022)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/nick-lane/transformer/for-decades-biology

## More from this book

> [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)