Oxygen almost wiped out nearly all life, Prof. Paweł Golik in the “Wiedza w Głosie” podcast

18 03 2026

Prof. Paweł Golik from the Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, was a guest on the “Wiedza w Głosie” podcast.

In the episode, Jakub Okrzesa talked with the professor about, among other things, how and when life on Earth began and what life actually is, what the first organisms may have looked like, where oxygen in the atmosphere came from, and why it was deadly for many forms of life. The conversation also includes questions about whether everything that lives has DNA, the origin of multicellular life, and many other topics.

Prof. Paweł Golik is a geneticist and evolutionary biologist affiliated with the Faculty of Biology at the University of Warsaw. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Center for Molecular Medicine at Emory University in Georgia, USA, and at the Centre de Génétique Moléculaire CNRS in Gif-sur-Yvette, France. In his research, he focuses on how genes work and on topics at the intersection of genetics and evolutionary theory. He also collaborates with the Faculty of Artes Liberales at the University of Warsaw, taking part in initiatives that connect biology with the humanities and the arts. He is a science communicator and the Chair of the Council for Science Popularization of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

The full conversation is available on YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/Rx7t26PqrKA?si=phYcf4agS9vBU2FN

Photo used in the graphic by Michał Ignar

Microphone graphic used under a “Free License”:
https://www.vecteezy.com/members/emojoez