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Santa Fe Institute

Origins Of Life

Santa Fe Institute via Complexity Explorer

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Overview

This course aims to push the field of Origins of Life research forward by bringing new and synthetic thinking to the question of how life emerged from an abiotic world.

This course begins by examining the chemical, geological, physical, and biological principles that give us insight into origins of life research. We look at the chemical and geological environment of early Earth from the perspective of likely environments for life to originate.

Taking a look at modern life we ask what it can tell us about the origin of life by winding the clock backwards. We explore what elements of modern life are absolutely essential for life, and ask what is arbitrary? We ponder how life arose from the huge chemical space and what this early 'living chemistry' may have looked like.

We examine phenomena, that may seem particularly life like, but are in fact likely to arise given physical dynamics alone. We analyze what physical concepts and laws bound the possibilities for life and its formation.

Insights gained from modern evolutionary theory will be applied to proto-life. Once life emerges, we consider how living systems impact the geosphere and evolve complexity. 

The study of Origins of Life is highly interdisciplinary - touching on concepts and principles from earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics.  With this we hope that the course can bring students interested in a broad range of fields to explore how life originated. 

The course will make use of basic algebra, chemistry, and biology but potentially difficult topics will be reviewed, and help is available in the course discussion forum and instructor email. There will be pointers to additional resources for those who want to dig deeper.

This course is Complexity Explorer's first Frontiers Course.  A Frontiers Course gives students a tour of an active interdisciplinary research area.The goals of a Frontiers Course are to share the excitement and uncertainty of a scientific area, inspire curiosity, and possibly draw new people into the research community who can help this research area take shape!

Syllabus

  1. Introduction
  2. Chemical Origins
  3. Chemical Comminalities
  4. Early Life
  5. Evolution
  6. Astrobiology & General Outlook

Taught by

Dr. Sarah Maurer and Dr. Chris Kempes

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Reviews

4.4 rating, based on 22 Class Central reviews

Start your review of Origins Of Life

  • Anonymous
    I suggest that you turn the course upside down. Begin with the last section, which is by far the most important to understanding newer ideas about possible transitions from prebiotic chemistry to first life, and sets the stage for the other materi…
  • Anonymous
    This course gives ideas about how to approach a complex research field. The theme, ‘Origins of Life’ is not convertible into a single subject. Thus, designing ways and methods to study life, challenges the scientific reasoning near to the barriers o…
  • Anonymous
    Very enjoyable course covering a lot of disciplines and providing a great introduction to exploring questions about life origins. Most of the videos were great, as well as the downloadable slides. A couple of videos had audio issues but overall 98% of them worked perfectly and were clear and comprehensive. The way the videos were broken out into section with mini quizzes worked well. I found it easier to digest the unit in smaller chunks and track my understanding with the quizzes after each video.
    I also found it a lot more engaging to have the lecturer appear in the videos, compared to just voice overs and slides.
    Thank You for providing this course.
  • Anonymous
    A great course from people who really know their stuff. As the Description warns, this is an active fields of research, not settled science, and students are given an overview of the various positions, an pointers to the research literature. I have completed five of the six weeks of lectures, and have downloaded 216 papers. I am trying to read them, but is will be a lot of effort.
    The forums are active, so it is possible to discuss things which are of interest, and also get help when needed.
  • Anonymous
    If I could give the course four and a half stars, I would! This was my first course with the Santa Fe Institute and I enjoyed it very much. The topics were all well presented and thought provoking. There were some great insights shared on the student forum, as well. A couple of the lectures suffered in the area of sound quality and/or subtitling, but overall the technical staff did a good job. I would have liked more depth in some topics. I intend to take another course via complexity explorer!
  • Profile image for Ray Tokuda
    Ray Tokuda
    This class was taught by charismatic, energetic and interesting researchers of the fields of abiogensis and astrobiology.

    Sarah Maurer and Chris Kempes did an excellent job of putting together an engaging and informative course. Who would have thought that math would be so useful in studying the origins of life?

    It also showed me how insightful knowledge of chemistry can be in the study how how life came to be.

    All in all a great course!
  • Anonymous
    Loved it! The best parts about the course were:

    1. A plethora of top scientists and their works were introduced.

    2. Many supplementary materials provided in the form of research paper PDFs

    3. There was support in the form of a discord server, forum and email.

    I came here to learn about Origins of Life, but alongside I learned about the Santa Fe Institute and complex systems -- a field I wish to explore soon.
  • Anonymous
    Superb survey course on origin of life. Excellent resources provided

    What stood out to me were the lectures on varying definitions of life towards the end - some of these from the information perspective. The course is a stepping stone to other studies in complexity theory/origin of life work. I think I can use material from the course in my own research.
  • Anonymous
    An excellent course involving multiple disciplines delivered by experts in their various fields. At times it was pretty challenging, but this added to the enjoyment. It feels like we are close to unlocking a theory of life, which is very exciting.
  • Anonymous
    It was really interesting to be able to get a sense of the breadth and the depth of the questions and the field. Some parts were challenging to follow as a result but I would pick this over simplification! Fascinated by life even more :)
  • Anonymous
    An effective coverage of a broad and complex subject. I learned much and it motivated me to learn more. I realized potential connections to other topics and ideas that I need to follow up on.
  • Anonymous
    Excellent up-to-date course. Far exceeded my expectations. Delivered by a wide range of scientists in the field. Led me to further explore topics in suggested readings.
  • Anonymous
    it' s a very interesting and wonderful course also if sometimes i have had some difficult to follow the chemical part of course
  • Anonymous
    I love this course. I learned a lot about the origins of life from the perspective of complex systems. This course is so profound and also is presented in an easy way to understand without much background knowledge.
  • Anonymous
    Very interest idea about origan OF life, New vision to the biology I love it and very motvited to start the course
  • Anonymous
    I am a geophysicist and completed unit 3 today. I definitely find the course very interesting until now, however it has been difficult for me to complete unit 3 and concentrate well for understanding lectures with a lot of bimolecular chemistry and names. I tried to capture the general message and important tips, and I can tell that Quiz and Tests are also designed with the same idea. I am more excited about unit 5 and 6. Thank you dear lecturers :)
  • Richard Wayne Sweney
    This was a rigorous course but worth the effort. It required a working knowledge of organic chemistry, modern biology, and some higher mathematics so it was challenging. I especially appreciated the Sara Mauer's teleconferences with the students. I have taken a dozen or so MOOCs and this is the first one that included such sessions. All the instructors were well qualified and presented their topics well.
  • Anonymous
    Hi, my name is Luis and I'm from Lima, Peru. I'm very excited to take this course.

    Because I'm a Bachelor's Biology, I study a extremophile, such as, tardigrade. In addition, I'm member of Asociacion Peruana de Astrobiología in Perú which research and communicate topics about Astrobiology.
  • Anonymous
    Gives a much more detailed perspective than I ever would have imagined, but was disappointed that the Santa Fe Institute, with its previewed heightened level of education and intelligence, continues to legitimize the Apollo missions.
  • Anonymous
    Great course. Only few details to perfection. The multidisciplinary approach is the major strength of this course. Prerequisites should be better defined.
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