The Origins of Life: Inevitable or a Toss of the Dice?

press release: UW Space Place lecture by Dr. Zachary Adam, Kacar Research Group, UW-Madison

We live in an age where we can take direct images of planets orbiting nearby stars, and one of the highest priorities of NASA is to uncover whether there is life on any of these planets. There are millions of nearby stars, and even more planets around those stars, so it would be extremely helpful to know where to point our telescopes out of all of these possibilities. Any information along these lines would greatly increase our chances of successfully detecting life beyond Earth. Chemists have been exploring how to make the chemicals that cook up the cell for decades from scratch, but it's proving to be a tall order because even the simplest cell is an incredibly complex set of chemical compounds. How can we start with a mix of rocks, gases and water and end up with life? For this meeting at Space Place, we will cover recent efforts to mimic natural settings in order to produce the molecules of life. We will also discuss the implications of whether life is considered inevitable, or a randomized product of galactic chemistry.

The presentation will be offered both in person and virtually. To attend virtually, visit the UW Space Place YouTube channel that evening: https://www.youtube.com/user/uwspaceplace. If you cannot join us at that time, the talk will also be recorded for you to enjoy later.