Slime: A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich

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Slime: A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich: Primordial Slime

Primordial Slime

BBC Radio 4 - Slime: A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich, Primordial Slime

The story of the Victorian obsession with primordial slime.

How the idea of primordial slime on the ocean floor captivated followers of Charles Darwin, and may yet hold the secrets of the earliest life on Earth.

Slime is an ambiguous thing. It exists somewhere between a solid and a liquid. It inspires revulsion even while it compels our fascination in fiction and on the screen. It is both a vehicle for pathogens and the strongest weapon in our immune system. Many of us know little about it, yet it is the substance on which our world turns. 

Sirine Saba reads from Susanne Wedlich’s ground-breaking new book which leads us on a journey through the 3-billion-year history of slime, from the part it played in the evolution of life on Earth to its potential role in climate change and life beyond our planet. 

There is probably no single living creature that does not depend on slime in some way. Most organisms use slime for a number of functions: as a structural material, as jellyfish do; for propagation, as plants do; to catch prey, as frogs do; for defence, like the hagfish; or for movement, like snails. 

In this episode, the story of how primordial slime on the ocean floor captivated followers of Charles Darwin. They believed it led to the spontaneous generation of life on Earth and were eventually ridiculed, but now modern scientists are thinking that ocean slimes might yet reveal the secrets of the earliest life on Earth. 

Written by Susanne Wedlich and translated by Ayça Türkoğlu
Abridged and produced by Jane Greenwood
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4

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A ground-breaking journey through the three-billion-year history of slime.

Book of the Week. Sirine Saba reads from Susanne Wedlich's ground-breaking new book which leads us on a journey through the three-billion-year history of slime.

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