Experiments test how easy life itself might be
Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Summary: Combining theory with experiment, scientists are trying to understand how life can arise from non-life. Researchers are conducting experiments to test the idea that lifelike chemical reactions might develop readily under the right conditions. The work addresses some of the deepest mysteries in biology, and has implications for understanding how common life might be in the universe.
UW scientists are combining theory with experiment to try to understand how life could arise from lifelike chemical reactions under the right conditions. “If we find many different chemistries supporting lifelike reactions, we can expect more origins of life elsewhere in the universe,” says botany Professor David Baum.
On a lab benchtop, a handful of glass vials taped to a rocker gently sway back and forth. Inside the vials, a mixture of organic chemicals and tiny particles of fool's gold are begging a question seemingly beyond their humble appearance: Where did life come from?