Invited talk II: Why does life start, what does it do, where will it be, and how might we find it?

Abstract

Life was driven into being on our planet to resolve the disequilibria between the fuels hydrogen and methane emanating from submarine alkaline springs, as against the carbon dioxide dissolved in the acidulous ocean from the atmosphere. The two fluids were kept at bay by the precipitation of iron minerals at the spring. It was in the mineral barriers that this free energy was first converted via a protometabolism to organic molecules. Thus, we can say that life hydrogenated, and still hydrogenates, carbon dioxide. Therefore, we may expect life to emerge on any wet and rocky world that has a partly carbon dioxide-rich ocean. One possible example is on Europa (see Figure). It should reveal itself either as whole cells or as bioorganic molecules that themselves are far-from-thermodynamic equilibrium.