Origins of Life: Do you have questions for my upcoming guests?

Harry Brodsky - How hard will it be to detect biosignatures for phosphorous with telescopes like the Habitable Worlds Observatory?

Ricard Sole - What's your take on viruses and the books by Peter Ward and others.

Ricard Solé, if all living systems are constrained by energy interactions, molecular diversity, interactions within finite ecosystems, and the path-dependence and historical contingencies of evolutionary outcomes, why aren’t there already rough predictions of the 'alien' species that might populate Earth's deep oceans and the exoplanets and moons?

Robin Wordsworth, exoplanets near M dwarf stars face conditions that are fundamentally different from those on Earth. Is it possible that an equivalent chlorophyll molecule could develop in those worlds?

Why don't we see new life being created here on earth now? There are still deep sea vents, volcanoes etc.

What is our current understanding of how many times life started on Earth?

What do you think of Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic Fields theory?

A question that's been churning in my head since we discovered black smokers at the bottom of the ocean and has only sharpened since finding extremophiles deep in the crust: did life on Earth start on the surface and adapt to the depths, or start in the depths and adapt to the surface?

In our search for life are we looking for just any signs of any kind of life and if so how does that inevitable outcome help us? Or are we looking for human life and if so are we expecting that human to be similar to us? Less or more advanced. However an advance human elsewhere may have not developed sight or hearing and therefore be unaware of the cosmos. Therefore unreceptive.

Harry Brodsky - Is phosphorus something we will need to bring with us for a colony on Mars or elsewhere. What is the best way to do it if necessary? Ricard Solé - If science allows us to upload our mental cognizance into an outbound starship database to be downloaded into an android hundreds of years later to settle a new world…is that life? Robin Wordsworth - How are we supporting mental health in such isolated environments with limited access to recreational facilities?

I like to think about what pre-biotic life might still exist. When I went to my father's viewing, I was struck by the complete lack of animation of his face and body. He was, like, unplugged, no electricity. So .. what role does electricity play in current theories of how life got started? It was the only thing different in my dad, he had no voltage. No impulses in his nerves. Everything else was the same. I also like to think that the storm on Saturn that Cassini saw was a pre-biotic kind of life. What do you think?

Could life have started multiple times on earth? Is there any evidence of multiple successes? If there is such evidence, wouldn’t it suggest life is more likely elsewhere?

Dr. Wordsworth, could you detect the biosignatures of a self-sustaining habitat around an exoplanet via radial velocity?

Are there any similarities between historical religious creation stories and current scientific life origin theories? JerryC

Ricard Solé - Logic of Life 1) what similarities do you find between computer programming and the genetic mechanisms in a living cell.? 2) I think a viruses as pieces of genetic code that have been able to store themselves outside of the cell. But they have to return to the cell to multiply. What have viruses taught you about the logic of life? 3) many cell biologists have worked on genetically engineering the simplest cell possible, to strip cellular life down to it's most bare necessities. What has this modern approach to genetic engineering taught you about the definition of life?

For Harry Brodsky 1) what types of stars generate phosphorus and when is it produced in the life cycle of those stars. 2) hopefully related to above question, why is phosphorus relatively limited in the universe, if it is. 3) what theories do we have to explain why phosphorus is relatively abundant on Earth, if it is. 0) why is phosphorus important to life on Earth. What part of life metabolism does it play.

For Ricard especially: How close are we to building a self-replicating protocell? I'm thinking of the Von Neumann end of the spectrum rather than simple, low information vesicles or individual ribozymes.

I read that the genome of the tardigrade was sequenced by UNC and 1/6 of their genome is foreign dna. How does an organism, like the tardigrade, obtain foreign dna? Isnt the sequence of dna from both "parents"? Thanks, Ennis, Mt.

For Mr wordsmith, obviously there are many things needed for humans to survive in space, but how much thought goes into small quality of life features such as a window to see outside with or making the habitat with better cooking and entertainment available and how do you decide what’s worth it and what isn’t?

No questions from my side,just wanted to say these are SUPER interesting topics. Will be glad to listen to all the answers given to your questions.

Origins of life. Do we consider a vurus as life. They need a cell to provide mechanism reproduce.?

I would love to hear discussed on how the current development doesn't seem to focus on the creation of artificial gravity! Surely this next step in our scientific evolution is important enough to warrant another space station after the ISS. Thank you.

Is it possible for microbial life to exist on asteroids and how likely is it occur? Thanks for all you do! 🔭🪐