Origin and detection of life (C3)

4. Origin and detection of life (C3)#

Life is inherently chemical, it must emerge from specific chemical environments, and through its metabolism brings about specific chemical transformations to those environments. In these 12 lectures we follow the chemistry of life from its beginnings in aqueous environments, the emergence of organic chemistry, explore atmospheres as chemical reactors both for forming life and detecting it, move further out to space and study the chemistry that happens there that may be relevant for fertilizing young planets with the ingredients for life, and finally bring this all together to look at discovering life from its chemical imprint on atmospheres.

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Fig. 4.1 Life has transformed the chemistry of Earth’s atmosphere, changing its very colour. Here we see the blue light of Earth’s limb from its stratospheric ozone layers. Image credit: Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center.#

Learning outcomes

The overarching learning outcomes for this module are below, lecture-specific learning outcomes are included in the notes for each lecture.

  • Understand the basics of aqueous and organic chemistry

  • Understand the chemistry of atmospheres

  • Understand chemistry in astrophysical contexts

  • Be familiar with how the chemistry of environments can be used to detect life

Lectures