Michael Clarage: Electrical Shaping of Biology | Thunderbolts

In this first episode of a two-part presentation, we begin with an open question in biology—how do the shapes of creatures come about? How does a certain frog species obtain its particular shape and not some other? How do its legs and toes and claws always get their particular shape and not some other? We repeat the 70 year-old idea that DNA alone somehow determines everything, though there is surprisingly little evidence. The story of DNA that we grew up with—and still teach our children—is not only wrong, it’s harmful to our spirit because it gives us a false understanding of ourselves and our relationship to the universe. Astrophysicist and Lead Scientist of The SAFIRE Project Michael Clarage, PhD, highlights some of the evidence for the role of electricity in how plant and animal shapes come to be, and the role of electric fields in how inorganic objects obtain their shapes.