The operating system of life - George Zaidan and Charles Morton

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-operating-system-of-life-george-zaidan-and-charles-morton

Humans, octopi and pine trees alike are all made up of cells, tiny but sophisticated systems that keep life going. Cells are almost like tiny factories run by robots, with the nucleus, DNA, proteins, lipids, and vitamins and minerals all playing critical roles. George Zaidan and Charles Morton lay out the blueprint of a cell and explain how biochemistry binds all life together.

Lesson by George Zaidan and Charles Morton, animation by Pew36 Animation Studios.

Every chicken was once an egg,

every oak tree an acorn,

every frog a tadpole.

The patch of mold on that old piece of bread

in the back of your fridge,

not so long ago that was one, solitary cell.

Even you were once but a gleam

in your parents' eyes.

All these organisms share

the same basic goal:

to perpetuate their own existence.

All lifeforms that we've discovered so far

stay alive by using

basically the same rules, materials, and machinery.

Imagine a factory full of robots.

These robots have two missions:

one, keep the factory running,

and two, when the time is right,

set up an entirely new factory.

To do those things,

they need assembly instructions,

raw materials,

plenty of energy,

a few rules about when to work normally,

when to work quickly,

or when to stop,

and some exchange currencies

because even robots need to get paid.

Each factory has a high security office with blueprints

for all the possible factory configurations

and complete sets of instructions

to make all the different types of robots

a factory could ever need.

Special robots photocopy these instructions

and send them off

to help make the building blocks of more robots.

Their colleagues assemble those parts

into still more robots,

which are transported

to the right location in the factory

and given the tools they need to start working.

Every robot draws energy

from the central power plant,

a giant furnace that can burn regular fuel

but also scrap materials

if not enough regular fuel is available.

Certain zones in the factory

have harsher working conditions,

so these areas are walled off.

But the robots inside can at least communicate

with the rest of the factory

through specialized portals

embedded directly into the walls.

And as you've probably figured out,

what we're describing here

is a cell.

The high security office is the nucleus.

It stores the blueprints and instructions

as deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

The photocopied instructions are RNA.

The robots themselves are mostly proteins

built from amino acids,

but they'll often use special tools

that are, or are derived from,

vitamins and minerals.

The walls between factory zones

and around the factory itself

are mostly made up of lipids,

a.k.a. fats.

In most organisms,

the primary fuel source are sugars,

but in a pinch,

fats and proteins can be broken down

and burned in the furnace as well.

The portals are membrane proteins

which allow very specific materials and information

to pass through the walls at the right times.

Many interactions between robot proteins

require some kind of push,

think robot minimum wage.

A few small but crucial forms of money

are transferred between proteins

to provide this push.

Electrons, protons, oxygen, and phosphate groups

are the main chemical currencies,

and they're kept in small molecular wallets

or larger tote bags to keep them safe.

This is biochemistry,

the study of how every part of the factory

interacts to keep your life running smoothly

in the face of extreme challenges.

Maybe there's too much fuel;

your body will store the excess as glycogen or fat.

Maybe there's not enough;

your body will use up those energy reserves.

Maybe a virus or bacteria tries to invade;

your body will mobilize the immune system.

Maybe you touched something hot or sharp;

your nerves will let you know so you can stop.

Maybe it's time to create a new cell

or a new person.

Amazingly, oak trees, chickens, frogs,

and, yes, even you

share so many of the same

basic robot and factory designs

that biochemists can learn a lot

about all of them

all at the same time.