BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Geochemical Constraints for Prebiotic Chemistry - Dr Paul Rimmer\,
  Cavendish Astrophysics\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20181009T110000Z
DTEND:20181009T120000Z
UID:TALK105520@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Owen Weller
DESCRIPTION:The question “where did life begin?” could be about many t
 hings on many different scales\, from what sort of planets on which life c
 ould originate\, all the way to pointing out the specific pond\, or stream
 \, or vent in which life began. All of these senses are connected to the e
 nvironmental conditions for the chemical mechanism that lead from prebioti
 cally plausible starting materials to\, eventually\, life as we know it. I
  will focus on a promising photochemical pathway to form the building bloc
 ks of RNA\, proteins and lipids. Along with ultraviolet light\, this chemi
 stry requires a variety of feedstock chemical species (hydrogen cyanide\, 
 cyanoacetylene\, cyanamide\, sulfites\, nitrites\, phosphates\, ferrous ir
 on\, in liquid water) that are most likely to form at very diverse environ
 mental oxidation states. I will discuss two scenarios that can provide som
 e of these feedstock species\, one endogenous and one exogenous\, and will
  suggest how future experiments may help constrain whether these scenarios
  would actually function as reasonable starting conditions for this prebio
 tic pathway. I will finish by talking about how observations of exoplanets
  may help to constrain some of the global conditions needed for each of th
 ese scenarios.
LOCATION:Tilley Lecture Theatre\, Department of Earth Sciences
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR