Origins of Life:

The Earth, the Solar System, and Beyond

Of all the questions scientists might ask about life, none is more basic or challenging than how life emerges in the first place. Modern research suggests that life results from planetary processes, but there are still many unknowns. Which processes were critical to the beginning of life? What environments support these processes? Recent advances in the understanding of planets and moons in our solar system and the discovery of extrasolar planets may lead to research and space missions that help answer these questions. This symposium will convene leading biologists, chemists, and planetary scientists to explore pathbreaking information about planetary processes and the possibility that the origin of life is grounded in them.

Experience the conference on-line. Streaming videos are now available:

Welcome and "Prebiotic Chemistry in Space: Setting the Stage for the Evolution of Life”

Video (57 minutes)

“Minerals, Radicals, Prebiotic Chemistry, and the Emergence of Oxygenic Photosynthesis”

Video (41 minutes)

“Physical and Chemical Models for the Origin of Biological Homochirality”

Video (46 minutes)

“Directed, Continuous, and Self-Sustained Evolution of RNA Enzymes”

Video (38 minutes)

“Evolution of Atmospheres on Habitable Planets”

Video (51 minutes)

“The Sedimentary Cycle of Mars and Its Astrobiological Implications”

Video (46 minutes)

“Extrasolar Planets and the Search for Habitable Worlds”

Video (39 minutes)

Closing Remarks

Video (10 minutes)

Origins of Life Abstracts

Origins of Life Speakers' Biographies

Events - Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

Evolution and the Origins of Life

Harold Morowitz of George Mason University will discuss how new knowledge of energy flow pathways can help elucidate the origins of life. Lecture series presented by National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the Office of Science Education, and the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Launch in standalone player

Biophysicist Harold Morowitz became a Robinson Professor after a long career of teaching and research at Yale University as Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry and serving for five years as Master of Pierson College. The author of several books, Morowitz has written extensively on the thermodynamics of living systems, as well as on popular topics in science. Included in those publications are Mayonnaise and the Origins of Life, Cosmic Joy and Local Pain, The Thermodynamics of Pizza, Entropy and the Magic Flute, and The Kindly Dr. Guillotin. In his current research, Morowitz is investigating the interface of biology and information sciences and continues his exploration of the origins of life. Other books are The Origin of Cellular Life: Metabolism Recapitulates Biogenesis and The Facts of Life (co-authored with James Trefil). He is Staff Scientist and former Director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study and former Editor-in-Chief of the journal Complexity. His book The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex was published in 2002 by Oxford University Press. Dr. Morowitz is principal investigator on the multi-institutional grant "From Geochemistry to the Origin of Life," which is centered at the Santa Fe Institute and includes George Mason University and four other research centers. Dr. Morowitz was featured in an article in the Mason Gazette: http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/8808 .

GMU Robinson Professors: Harold Morowitz

NIH VideoCasting Past Events