“Origins of Life” returns home

While our understanding of the details have evolved, there is no doubt that the establishment of origins of life as a viable research domain was solidified by the Miller-Urey experiment showing that simple amino acids could be formed by electrifying gaseous molecules in simulated early Earth conditions. That experiment, conducted here at the University of Chicago, allowed questions about the origins of life to move out of the mind and into the laboratory where, for the past seven decades, researchers around the world have grappled with the complexity of what conditions and processes are necessary for life to emerge on a planet?

The Chicago Center of the Origins of Life is pleased to host the Origins Federation Third Annual Origins of Life Conference here at the University of Chicago. This four-day conference will bring together researchers from across the sciences and the world to discuss the latest findings about the critical processes and necessary elements that led to the development of life on Earth and potentially elsewhere in the universe.