FUCA, the First Universal Common Ancestor episode artwork

EPISODE · May 20, 2025 · 21 MIN

FUCA, the First Universal Common Ancestor

from Paleo Bites

 (image source: https://medium.com/@smartap3s/luca-and-fuca-our-great-great-great-grandmas-7880b0950e53) Host Matthew Donald and guest co-hosts Jennifer Grossman and Matt’s niece Logan (against his will) discuss FUCA, the original, original life before even LUCA was a thing, which I also covered with Jennifer about two hundred episodes earlier. From the Early Precambrian, this non-cellular entity was actually quite different from LUCA, in that while the latter had cells and enzymes and other biology that makes it more akin to a living organism, FUCA is just a glob of aimless amino acids. We really can’t go back much further than this on this show, which hey, thank God there’s a limit.Want to further support the show? Sign up to our Patreon for exclusive bonus content at Patreon.com/MatthewDonald. Also, you can get links to follow Matthew Donald and purchase his books at https://linktr.ee/matthewdonald. His latest book, Teslamancer, just released August 27th! And mild spoiler alert... there are kind of dinosaurs in it... mwuahahaha. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 20, 2025

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

FUCA, the First Universal Common Ancestor

0:00 21:05

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Paleo Bites?

This episode is 21 minutes long.

When was this Paleo Bites episode published?

This episode was published on May 20, 2025.

Can I download this Paleo Bites episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!