Simplifying Complexity Big Ideas: The Origin of Life
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Mar 4, 2024 
The podcast delves into the complexities of the origin of life, discussing approaches like the RNA world and metabolism first. It explores the role of memory, selection, and evolution in creating complex structures, rejecting spontaneous creation. The significance of copy numbers in evolution and the challenges of origin of life theories are also highlighted, emphasizing the need for deep experimentation and interdisciplinary thinking.
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From Physics to Life's Origins
- Sara Walker's path to studying the origin of life was non-linear.
- Initially a physics student, she was nudged towards this field by her PhD advisor and became fascinated by its complexity.
Life as a Planetary Process
- Life on Earth shares common ancestry, traced back to the last universal common ancestor (LUCA).
- Walker views life as a planetary process, influenced by interactions across scales, from molecules to geochemical cycles.
Planets: Cradles of Life?
- Planets are generators of life due to their closed systems, energy sources, and interacting components.
- Life emerges when information structures matter across space and time, driven by selection in vast chemical possibility spaces.