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SUMMARY:Why the origin of life had to be inorganic - Lee Cronin\, Universi
 ty of Glasgow
DTSTART:20140604T175000Z
DTEND:20140604T182000Z
UID:TALK52659@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:37797
DESCRIPTION:What is life? How did life start on planet earth 3.5 billion y
 ears ago\, and which molecules/chemical systems led to biology? Is there a
 ny general theory of evolution that extends to all matter? In asking these
  questions\, we are also trying to explore the development of inorganic sy
 stems capable of evolution - as a less complex\, ‘emergent’ model of p
 rebiotic evolution\, which pre-dates the RNA/DNA world. This is because RN
 A/DNA is so complicated\, that if life were to start with these building b
 locks it would be like randomly assembling a Jumbo-Jet plane from sand. Ra
 ther than depend on such an extremely unlikely event\, we propose that a s
 eries of simpler\n(and random) ‘sand-castles’ could form. These would 
 then allow more and more complicated parts to form\, each built upon the f
 ormer\, until the RNA ‘Jumbo-Jets’ that we now find in biology are for
 med.
LOCATION:The Cambridge Union Society\, 9a Bridge Street\, Cambridge CB2 1U
 B
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