{"id":154,"date":"2021-05-10T21:19:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T21:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biota.org\/?page_id=154"},"modified":"2025-10-16T01:15:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T01:15:58","slug":"media-talks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/media-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Media\/Articles"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Media and Articles<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Learn and Be Inspired<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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astrobiology special issue publication (Coming Early 2026)<\/span><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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lipid-polymer progenitor hypothesis article<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Bruce Damer and David Deamer are guest-editing a special issue dedicated to “an origin of life on land” in the journal Astrobiology. Along with a dozen other contributors, they have provided a new hypothesis article which extends the Hot Spring Hypothesis<\/a> (2020) proposing that a dry, layered system of lipids and polymers can provide the combinatorial engine to both synthesize large numbers of sequences and also form functional paired complexes. Such complexes could provide the basis for the first ribozymes of RNA and peptides, support metabolic cycles, replication and other functions of proto-biology. Such a system could be deemed a ‘progenitor’ of life and would become encapsulated and tested in protocell compartments budding from the layered system in subsequent wetting cycles. Their proposal was motivated by Leslie Orgel’s challenges that the arising of such rare complexes or interacting sets of complexes is to ‘appeal to magic.’<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Drake-awards-2025\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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biota-seti 2025 special event<\/span><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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david deamer and John baross recieve drake awards<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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BIOTA’s David Deamer and John Baross of the University of Washington recieved the 2025 Drake Award<\/a> from the SETI Institute. Prof. Baross was honored for his work on the discovery of deep sea hydrothermal vents in the late 1970s and subsequent proposal that life could begin there. Prof. Deamer was honored for his work on hot springs as an alternative locale for life’s beginnings through meteoritic organics and wet-dry cycling. Shown in this impromptu gathering on stage are SETI Scientist and co-founder Jill Tarter (left), David Deamer (seated), Bill Diamond (SETI CEO), John Baross (seated), and Nathalie Cabrol (SETI Chief Scientist).<\/p>

Watch the full video of the award ceremony here<\/a> (starting at 1 hour 54 minutes, 40 secs after a long preamble and discussion). Also included was a wonderful animation which you can view here<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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fieldwork report<\/span><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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iceland fieldwork tests rna polymerization<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Povilas Simonis and David Deamer traveled to Iceland during the summer of 2024 to engage in fieldwork to test whether RNA can polymerize in another set of hydrothermal conditions. This work builds on previous tests in Kamchatka, Russia, Yellowstone National Park and Fly Geyser, USA, Rotorua, New Zealand and fifteen years of ongoing laboratory work. The results of this most recent test will be presented in a special issue dedicated to “an origin of life on land” in the journal Astrobiology. The pubdate for this issue is expected in early 2026.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"DJI_20230413_153234_942[111542]\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fig2.GE1-GL-April_2023-web\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The genesis lab: exploring life's origins and illuminating a key term in the drake equation (May 2023)<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cFor life to become intelligent, it must first begin.\u201d<\/i><\/p>

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Two different environments have\u00a0been proposed for the origin of life. Most of the water on Earth is the salty\u00a0seawater of oceans that cover two thirds of the Earth\u2019s surface, so it seems\u00a0obvious that life must have begun in the ocean, perhaps at hydrothermal vents\u00a0that supply a source of energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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However, there is an alternative environment that\u00a0still exists today. Volcanic islands like Hawaii and Iceland emerge from the\u00a0ocean, and precipitation distilled from salty seawater provides a source of\u00a0freshwater to hydrothermal sites, commonly called hot springs.\u00a0<\/span>The water in hot springs is\u00a0<\/span>highly dynamic. Small pools are filled by rain, then dry out when the hot\u00a0<\/span>mineral surfaces cause the water to evaporate. Other cycles of wetting and\u00a0<\/span>drying occur when geysers erupt and splash water onto surrounding rocks, or\u00a0<\/span>when small wavelets at the borders of ponds ebb and flow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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The chamber on the table is\u00a0testing whether nucleic acids can be synthesized spontaneously in conditions\u00a0simulating what the Earth was like four billion years ago. The aluminum disk\u00a0has 24 wells with glass vials, and each vial contains a solution of\u00a0nucleotides. The disk is heated to ~80 degrees C and periodically rotates at a\u00a0speed that exposes each vial to a cycle of wetting and drying every two hours.\u00a0A flow of carbon dioxide passes through four tubes on each side of the disk to\u00a0help the water evaporate, and water delivered from two syringes slowly drips\u00a0into each vial every ten minutes. In a typical overnight session, the vials are
cycled eight times.<\/span><\/p>

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The products of cycling are analyzed in multiple ways, and so far,\u00a0their properties match those of known nucleic acids. One of the most convincing\u00a0properties is to visualize them using atomic force microscopy. The image below\u00a0shows polymers composed of guanosine monophosphate and cytidine monophosphate,\u00a0two of the four nucleotides that compose DNA and RNA. The mixture was exposed\u00a0to three wet-dry cycles on mica, then flushed with water, dried and viewed. The\u00a0polymers form tangles that are indistinguishable from DNA\u00a0 or RNA\u00a0molecules dried on mica.<\/span><\/p>

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What\u00a0can we\u00a0conclude from the work so far? First, the results suggest that it\u00a0is\u00a0possible for long strands of nucleic acids resembling DNA and RNA to\u00a0be\u00a0synthesized by cycles of wetting and drying, conditions that would have\u00a0been common in volcanic sites on the early Earth and Mars. Second, if life did\u00a0not invent nucleic acids, how did they become incorporated in the first\u00a0living\u00a0cells? The answer is surprisingly simple. The same wet-dry cycles\u00a0allow\u00a0membranes to encapsulate nucleic acids if fatty acids are present in\u00a0the\u00a0mixture, producing vast numbers of protocells.\u00a0<\/span>As this work continues, we plan to develop and\u00a0test a more complete set of physical and chemical properties which a young\u00a0planet needs for life to begin. We have proposed a new word \u2013 urability \u2013 to\u00a0describe such sets. These properties directly inform the\u00a0F sub l<\/i>\u00a0term in Frank Drake\u2019s equation:\u00a0the fraction of planets where life emerges and evolves.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Read the full article about the collaboration here:<\/h4>

The Genesis Lab<\/a><\/h1>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Two-part Podcast Series (Fall 2022)<\/span><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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BrUce Damer on the Origins of Life on \"The Jim RutT Show\"<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jim Rutt and Bruce Damer discuss the origins of life, Earth’s conditions 4 billion years ago, urability, organic building blocks, ocean vents theory vs. warm little pond hypothesis, wet-dry cycling, stromatolites as testing analogs, the Progenitor’s role, complexity ratchet and much more.<\/p>

Listen to the podcast here:<\/h4>

EP 167 Bruce Damer on the Origins of Life<\/a><\/h1>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Jim continues his discussion with Bruce Damer on the origins of life. They discuss Darwin’s “warm little pond” hypothesis, niche construction theory, the origin of life as mostly collaborative phenomena, how it relates to contemporary life and our future.<\/p>

Listen to the podcast here:<\/h4>

EP 171 Bruce Damer Part 2: The Origins of Life \u2013 Implications<\/a><\/h1>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Figure from article for publication reuse: Simplified urability graphs (A-B) depicting a combination of several factors that overlap to form an urable center in which prebiotic reactions can proceed along a plausible pathway toward the origin of life (credit, the authors).<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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BIOTA INSTITUTE PRESS RELEASE JULY 20, 2022 \u2013 <\/span>\n\n

Urability:\nA Property of Planetary Bodies That Can Support an Origin of Life<\/span><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/b>By David Deamer,\nFrancesca Cary and Bruce Damer<\/o:p><\/span><\/i><\/p>PUBLISHED IN THE JOURNAL <\/span>ASTROBIOLOGY <\/i>V22 N7, JULY 2022<\/span><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The terms habitability and habitable zone were introduced in 1993 and are now commonly used to describe planets with liquid water in which life might exist. However, even though a planet might be habitable, it does not necessarily follow that life could begin there. To call attention to this gap in our knowledge, we have proposed a novel and related term \u2013 urability — to describe planets that are not only habitable but also have a set of conditions that allow life to begin. Urability is introduced in an essay published this month in the journal Astrobiology <\/i>which describes a series of chemical and physical processes that must exist on a planet\u2019s surface if life is to begin. These conditions are primarily based on what we know of life\u2019s origin on Earth, but also provide a framework for estimating the chances that life might begin on early Mars, icy moons like Europa and Enceladus and thousands of recently discovered exoplanets.\u00a0The new word is pronounced ur-able, (not yur-able) derived from the German prefix ur meaning primitive, original, or earliest.<\/span><\/p>

Find the full article here:
Urability: A Property of Planetary Bodies That Can Support an Origin of Life<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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David Deamer: How We\u2019re Studying the Origins of Life<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Prof. David Deamer of UC Santa Cruz explains the basic principles and demonstrates the laboratory approaches behind the science in this special interview for Quanta Magazine.<\/p>

Find the full story here:
In Warm, Greasy Puddles, the Spark of Life?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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In the Beginning: The Origin & Purpose of Life<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For the first time presented to the public, Dr. Bruce Damer illustrates a novel approach to how life started on the Earth, four billion years ago. In this 2015 TEDx Santa Cruz talk he brings the hypothesis to life using the playful example of a Swiss army knife assembling random tools into the first molecular toolset able to divide into living cells.\u00a0<\/p>

Explore further how Dr. Damer links the origin of life to Humanity’s future in space in this second TEDx talk on
SHEPHERD, a spacecraft which can encapsulate an asteroid\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Living Universe<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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An excerpt <\/span>from the Screen Australia documentary Living Universe<\/em> which features Prof. David Deamer and Dr. Bruce Damer performing origin of life research field work at Bumpass Hell, Mount Lassen Volcanic Park in California. See how their experiments, fail, and then quite possibly succeed in a trial and error process as the hot springs steam. <\/span><\/p>

Find more information on the full documentary<\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Drake Awards 2025 animation: Deamer\/Baross<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A wonderful animated video featuring the question of the origin of life and honoring 2025 Drake Award winners John Baross (for his work on hydrothermal vents) and David Deamer (for his on hot spring origins).<\/p>

Watch the full video of the May 2025 award ceremony here<\/a> (starting at 1 hour 54 minutes, 40 secs after a long preamble and discussion).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Did asteroids bring life to Earth? | Catalyst<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Fifty years ago, a meteorite landed near the town of Murchison in Australia. We now know that some of these ancient space rocks carry complex organic compounds that can form membranous compartments and the building blocks of biopolymers. Deposited in pools on volcanic landscapes on the early Earth four billion years ago, these organics provided some of the starting ingredients stirring a primordial chemical soup into the first cellular life. Using these clues, University of New South Wales researchers Anna Wang and Luke Steller join forces with the University of Auckland to carry out exciting new research at hot springs in Rotorua, New Zealand.<\/span><\/p>

This excerpt is part of the larger Australian documentary series
Catalyst: Asteroid Hunters<\/em><\/a><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Origin of life experiments come to a hot spring near you<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In a 2018 collaboration between Dr. Bruce Damer and colleagues from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Auckland, new research on the origin of life is carried out at hot springs in Rotorua, New Zealand. The New Zealand Herald captured this first attempt to bring laboratory experiments to form RNA-like polymers and encapsulate them into lipid compartments in live hot spring conditions.<\/span><\/p>

Find the original New Zealand Herald story here:
Local Focus: American scientist researches the origins of life in Rotorua<\/a><\/em>
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HADEAN Volcanic Island featuring hot spring geyser filling a hot cycling pool<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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This 3D animation by Ryan Norkus and Dr. Bruce Damer is set on a conceptual Hadean volcanic island 4 billion years ago in which a periodic geyser erupts and sends a pulse of acidic water downstream into a pool. We then travel around the edges of the pool to a place where solutes and fatty acids form a “bathtub ring”, a key locale which we believe is important to life getting its start. This piece was rendered in 2014 to illustrate the developing Hot Spring Hypothesis being proposed and tested by Prof. David Deamer, Dr. Bruce Damer and colleagues.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Recent Articles<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>

Astrobiology Magazine (Apr 2020)<\/a><\/h3>

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Nature Magazine (Dec 2020)<\/a><\/h3>

How the first life on Earth survived its biggest threat \u2014 water\n\n <\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Astrobiology Magazine (Jul 2022)<\/a><\/h3>

Urability: A Property of Planetary Bodies That Can Support an Origin of Life (Cary, et al.)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (May 2019)<\/a><\/h3>

The Hot Spring Hypothesis for the Origin of Life and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Qualcomm Institute, UC San Diego (Jun 2018)<\/a><\/h3>

Discovering the Origins of Life, One Simulation at a Time<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Scientific American (Aug 2017)<\/a><\/h3>

The New Origins of Life: Life Springs<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Media and Articles Learn and Be Inspired astrobiology special issue publication (Coming Early 2026) lipid-polymer progenitor hypothesis article Bruce Damer and David Deamer are guest-editing a special issue dedicated to “an origin of life on land” in the journal Astrobiology. Along with a dozen other contributors, they have provided a new hypothesis article which extends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-154","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":476,"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2254,"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/154\/revisions\/2254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biota.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}