Goldenfeld

“Jumping genes” are ubiquitous. Every domain of life hosts these sequences of DNA that can “jump” from one position to another along a chromosome; in fact, nearly half the human genome is made up of jumping genes. Depending on their specific excision and insertion points, jumping genes can interrupt or trigger gene expression, driving genetic mutation and contributing to cell diversification.

Life is quirky. Although the molecules that make up all living things obey physical and chemical laws, they do so with a puzzling twist. How did the distinctive molecular features of life emerge, and what can they tell us about life on Earth and elsewhere in the universe?

Nigel Goldenfeld Interviewed in Huffington Post

Susan Mazur of the Huffington Post recently interviewed Nigel Goldenfeld, Swanlund Professor of Physics. Goldenfeld, also the leader of the IGB Biocomplexity research theme, as well as the director of the Institute for Universal Biology, a NASA astrobiology institute housed at the IGB, spoke on evolution, Carl Woese, and the need for a theory of life, among other things.

Originally published at www.astrobio.net

A family tree unites a diverse group of individuals that all carry genetic vestiges from a single common ancestor at the base of the tree. But this organizational structure falls apart if genetic information is a communal resource as opposed to a family possession.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been selected as one of five new research teams joining the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) to study the origin and evolution of life, on a five-year grant totaling approximately $8 million.