Over 43 years ago, Carl Sagan asked, “How did life begin?” this question captivated minds, but its roots stretch back millennia. We’ve untangled some of the mysteries of evolution, yet life’s inception remains an enigma. We’ll explore the once widely-held belief in Spontaneous Generation and how Darwin challenged it, proposing life’s emergence from a “warm little pond”. We then fast-forward to the revolutionary Miller-Urey experiment of 1953, recreating Earth’s primordial conditions and yielding organic molecules, the building blocks of life.
Evolution Talk is also a book! You can find links to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others on the front page of EvolutionTalk.com, or call your local bookstore and ask them to order a copy.
Works Cited
- Akre, Karin, and John P. Rafferty. “Miller-Urey Experiment | Description, Purpose, Results, and Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 June 2023, www.britannica.com/science/Miller-Urey-experiment.
- Bagley, Mary. “Precambrian: Facts About the Beginning of Time.” livescience.com, 3 May 2016, www.livescience.com/43354-precambrian-time.html.
- Bailey, Clinton. “The Origin of Life (Oparin, a. I.).” Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 15, no. 8, Aug. 1938, p. 399. https://doi.org/10.1021/ed015p399.1.
- Vitak, Sarah. “Redo of a Famous Experiment on the Origins of Life Reveals Critical Detail Missed for Decades.” Scientific American, 26 Nov. 2021, www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/redo-of-a-famous-experiment-on-the-origins-of-life-reveals-critical-detail-missed-for-decades.
- WeAreStarStuff51. “Carl Sagan Cosmos – the Stuff of Life.” YouTube, 12 Jan. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2xly_5Ei3U.
- Yong, Ed. “Scientists Finish a 53-year-old Classic Experiment on the Origins of Life.” Science, 3 May 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/scientists-finish-a-53-year-old-classic-experiment-on-the-origins-of-life.
- Zahnle, Kevin, et al. “Earth’s Earliest Atmospheres.” Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, vol. 2, no. 10, June 2010, p. a004895. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a004895.
Music in this Episode
- Orchestral Rise & Confusion by Tim Kulig, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/11275-orchestral-rise-confusion, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Under The Surface by Tim Kulig, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/10639-under-the-surface, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Gamma 135 175 Water Meditations by Tim Kulig, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/10713-gamma-135-175-water-meditations, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Psychic Cube by Tim Kulig, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/11767-psychic-cube, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Simple Space Score by Tim Kulig, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8867-simple-space-score, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Scorpion Standoff by Tim Kulig, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/8471-scorpion-standoff, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
- Blue Scorpion by Kevin MacLeod, Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/3451-blue-scorpion, Licensed under CC BY 4.0: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
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