On a classic episode of ID the Future, evolutionary biologist Dr. Richard Sternberg, a research fellow at the Biologic Institute and a Senior Fellow with Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, speaks about his mathematical and logical work showing the difficulty of identifying genes purely with material phenomena. It turns out DNA doesn’t have all that’s needed to direct the development of organisms. In recent decades, evidence of a vast richness of information beyond DNA has been discovered, revealing new layers of information density and irreducible complexity not known about before.

There’s “something phenomenal” going on inside the cell, says Dr. Sternberg. Probing and elucidating this mystery has been a focus of his research. The math, Sternberg says, is showing gaps in the computability of what happens in the cell, which could help shed light on how machine-like organisms are or aren’t, how evolvable they are, and whether artificial life is possible. Download the podcast or listen to it here.

Dig Deeper

• Learn about the Sternberg Smithsonian controversy of 2004 and why it matters today.