Is Earth Unique? Jack Szostak and Mario Livio share their insights in new interview
Coinciding with the recent release of Jack Szostak and Mario Livio's captivating new book, “Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life,” the Nobel Laureate and esteemed astrophysicist have shared an insightful interview with The Next Big Idea Club that delves into the core questions at the heart of their work’s premise:
How did life start here, and does it exist elsewhere?
Two of the most intriguing questions in science today are: How did life on Earth begin? and, Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Remarkably, although laboratory studies of the origin of life typically explore the microcosm while astronomical quests for extraterrestrial life examine the macrocosm, the attempts to answer these questions have an intertwined, symbiotic relationship.
In fact, success in one serves as a powerful motivational source for the other. The reason is simple. If biochemists can delineate a clear path from pure chemistry to a living cell in the lab, nature could do it, too. Similarly, if astronomers detected an extrasolar planet with unambiguous signs of life, this would suggest that once the conditions are favorable, the emergence of life from chemistry may be inevitable, which would embolden origin-of-life studies
Read the full interview here and Listen to the audio version—read by Mario—in the Next Big Idea App.
