Leading researchers across the sciences, Addy Pross, Chrisantha Fernando, and Kate Adamala, discuss the origin, and thus the meaning, of life on Earth.

Will it ever be discovered, or should we accept a degree of mystery around where we come from?

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/the-origin-of-li...

Humans have always marvelled at the wonders of life. But for nearly a century science has had an explanation for the immense variety of life forms on earth. Out of a primordial soup a random combination of chemicals generated the building blocks of life. Evolution did the rest. But might this account be mistaken? Despite decades of effort, biologists and biochemists have been unable to evolve living things from inorganic material. The emergence of the first cell and the development of complex life remain a mystery.

Is there something about the origin of life that means it will never be uncovered? Is the failure to account for life a threat to the whole evolutionary story? Or might we be able at some point to demonstrate the evolution of cells from inorganic material and the subsequent development of complex life forms? And if so where might this solution be found?

#originoflife #biology #physics

Join molecular biologist Güneş Taylor as she hosts a discussion on biology’s most central question: how did life begin? Joining her on the panel are cell biologist at the University of Minnesota Kate Adamala, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Ben Guiron University Addy Pross, and research scientist at Google DeepMind Chrisantha Fernando.

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00:00 Introduction
00:15 Will the origin of life forever remain a mystery?
00:30 The mystery of terrestrial life
02:25 Physics and biology are incompatible
05:09 Definition of life
07:05 Experimental biology
09:07 Life is an energised state
10:30 But fire is not alive

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