Dr. Bruce Damer is an astrobiologist, computer scientist, and director of the BIOTA Institute at UC Santa Cruz with a compelling theory for the origin of life on Earth. Damer and his colleagues have proposed that life didn't begin at the bottom of the ocean, or at a hydrothermal vent, or in the irradiated clouds of the early Earth. They propose the formation of the earliest cells out in the open, at the margins of vernal hot spring pools filled with amino acids, minerals, and proto-nucleotides carried to Earth by a constant shower of organic-rich micrometeorites. We talk about the hardest questions on Earth, why hydrothermal vents are a dead end, why origin of life researchers don't throw hot coffee at each other any more, and how figuring out where we came from might let us keep going for long enough to reach the stars. Check out Bruce's work at the Biota Institute: https://biota.org/ 00:00:00 Go! 00:00:17 Who is Bruce Damer? 00:03:08 Why is Origins of Life Research So Contentious? 00:06:53 Picture of the Origin 00:26:36 Precursors for Life 00:41:53 Hydrothermal Vents Won't Cut It 00:52:08 Experimental Details 01:03:19 How Far on Phenotype Alone? 01:12:20 Thermodynamics of Life 01:20:07 What Drives the Reaction to Complexity? 01:26:26 Chirality Doesn't Matter? 01:30:47 Panspermia Isn't Science? Really? 01:51:23 Virus Piece of the Puzzle 02:17:27 Evaporation Cycling 02:41:15 Closing Thoughts Support the scientific revolution by joining our Patreon: https://bit.ly/3lcAasB Tell us what you think in the comments or on our Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub #origins #originoflife #ancient Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671