| The EAI Seminars offer a platform for scientists to present and discuss some of the most interesting topics in the Astrobiology world, such as exoplanets, biosignatures, planet formation, and more. This series is bi-monthly, and can be found on the European Astrobiology Institute YouTube page. All seminars are free and open to everyone. |
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| NEXT EPISODE 06 FEBRUARY 2024, 16:00 CET |
Mechanisms of Emergence: How life-like functions can emerge spontaneously in chemical networks
By Sijbren Otto Professor of Systems Chemistry, University of Groningen, Centre for Systems Chemistry |
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| While a lot of research is devoted to the search for the chemical building blocks of life in prebiotic settings, relatively little attention has been paid to how the functions of life can emerge from mixtures of lifeless molecules. In this seminar I will introduce you to simple mechanisms through which several functions, that are deemed essential to life, can emerge from simple chemical reaction networks. These functions include self-replication, followed by catalysis and how this can lead onto a primitive metabolism. Catalysis can also yield cell-like compartments to house the self-replicators. Under the right conditions the resulting systems can undergo rudimentary Darwinian evolution and exhibit life-like behavior, including niche partitioning and eco-evolutionary dynamics. |
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