Scientists debate life's origins

February 12, 2011

Renowned scientists in fields ranging from astrobiology to genetics disputed the origin of life on Earth as we know it and the definition of life itself during a panel discussion titled "The Greate Debate: What is Life?" at Arizona State University on Feb. 12.

Many of the debaters agreed that the key to understanding our own origins and life itself was to find another example of life that evolved separate from our own. Although we may grasp how life has evolved on Earth, it is difficult to recognize how “non-life” became “life” when we have only one known example – our own – to study, according to Paul Davies, an ASU physicist and astrobiologist.

But where would we find life with a different origin from our own? The debaters suggested three possible places to search: On other planets, right here on Earth (“Life 2.0”), or created in a laboratory.
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