Chance, Necessity, and the Origins of Life

Hazen, Robert M.

Title:

Chance, Necessity, and the Origins of Life

dc.contributor.author	Hazen, Robert M.
dc.contributor.corporatename	Georgia Institute of Technology. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering	en_US
dc.contributor.corporatename	George Mason University. Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences	en_US
dc.contributor.corporatename	Carnegie Institution for Science. Geophysical Laboratory	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2017-12-31T22:38:19Z
dc.date.available	2017-12-31T22:38:19Z
dc.date.issued	2017-11-29
dc.description	Presented on November 29, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. in the College of Computing Building, Room 016.	en_US
dc.description	Robert M. Hazen is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences at George Mason University. Hazen’s recent research focuses on the varied roles of minerals in the origin of life, the co-evolution of the geo- and biospheres, the development of complex systems, and the application of “big data” to understanding mineral diversity and distribution.	en_US
dc.description	Runtime: 54:30 minutes	en_US
dc.description.abstract	Earth’s 4.5 billion year history is a complex tale of deterministic physical and chemical processes, as well as "frozen accidents." This history is preserved most vividly in mineral species, as explored in new approaches called "mineral evolution" and "mineral ecology." This lecture will explore possible roles of mineral surfaces in life’s origins, including molecular synthesis, protection, selection, concentration, and templating. We find that Earth's changing near-surface mineralogy reflects the co-evolving geosphere and biosphere in a variety of surprising ways that touch on life's origins. Recent research adds two important insights to this discussion. First, chance versus necessity is an inherently false dichotomy when considering the possibility of life on other worlds—a range of probabilities exists for many natural events. Second, given the astonishing combinatorial chemical richness of early Earth, chemical events that are extremely rare may, nevertheless, be deterministic on time scales of a billion years.	en_US
dc.format.extent	54:30 minutes
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/59100
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series	en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries	School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series
dc.subject	Determinism	en_US
dc.subject	Origins of life	en_US
dc.subject	Stochasticity	en_US
dc.title	Chance, Necessity, and the Origins of Life	en_US
dc.type	Moving Image
dc.type.genre	Lecture
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.corporatename	School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
local.relation.ispartofseries	School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Seminar Series
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