Are viruses alive or are they lifeless packages of protein and nucleic acid? Watch the Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QXFvaHi7LM Carl's book "Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive" is available now - https://geni.us/zimmer Countless scientists around the world study life, and yet they can't really agree on what it is. Join New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer as he explores the boundaries of life, encountering viruses and other strange residents of the borderlands. Carl Zimmer is the author of fourteen books about science. Zimmer’s column "Matter" appears each week in the New York Times. His writing has earned a number of awards, including the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded by the Society for the Study of Evolution. His book, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, won the 2019 National Academies Communication Award. The Guardian named it the best science book of 2018. Zimmer is a familiar voice on radio programs such as Radiolab and professor adjunct at Yale University. He is, to his knowledge, the only writer after whom both a species of tapeworm and an asteroid have been named. This talk was recorded on 26 August 2021. --- A very special thank you to our Patreon supporters who help make these videos happen, especially: efkinel lo, Abdelkhalek Ayad, Martin Paull, Ben Wynne-Simmons, Ivo Danihelka, Hamza, Paulina Barren, Metzger, Kevin Winoto, Jonathan Killin, János Fekete, Mehdi Razavi, Mark Barden, Taylor Hornby, Rasiel Suarez, Stephan Giersche, William 'Billy' Robillard, Scott Edwardsen, Jeffrey Schweitzer, Gou Ranon, Christina Baum, Frances Dunne, jonas.app, Tim Karr, Adam Leos, Michelle J. Zamarron, Fairleigh McGill, Alan Latteri, David Crowner, Matt Townsend, Anonymous, Robert Reinecke, Paul Brown, Lasse T. Stendan, David Schick, Joe Godenzi, Dave Ostler, Osian Gwyn Williams, David Lindo, Roger Baker, Greg Nagel, and Rebecca Pan. --- Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe The Ri is on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ri_science and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/royalinstitution and Tumblr: http://ri-science.tumblr.com/ Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorial-policy Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter Product links on this page may be affiliate links which means it won't cost you any extra but we may earn a small commission if you decide to purchase through the link.