Episode15: Astrobiology. How did life start on Earth?

Astrobiology is the study of life outside the earth. Paradoxically,
it is advanced by understanding how life started here on earth.
More about Astrobiology in the UK at the Astrobiology Society's
website. In the famous Miller Urey experiment to discover the
origin of life, the experiment did not result in primitive life but
succeeded in creating organic molecules from inorganic
constituents. The starting point of the Miller and Urey experiments
was the chemical composition of the early Earth’s atmosphere. Could
meteorites also have given life a helping hand? In today's episode,
Dr Terry Kee from the School of Chemistry at the University of
Leeds talks about the key processes involving Phosphorus that may
have been critical in kick-starting life on earth. The type of
Phosphorus required for these processes is not found on the surface
of the Earth today but is found in Iron meteorites. In a new
collaborative project funded by £500,000 grant University of Leeds
will investigate the beginning of life on Earth 3.8 billion years
ago. Sorry about the quality of the audio - the recording was made
in Dr Kee's office which apparently was much noisier than I
remember:(