Lee Cronin discusses the origin of life on Piers Morgan Uncensores
Lee Cronin took part in a discussion with Professor James Tour of Rice University on Piers Morgan Uncensored, on whether life can be created in the laboratory. The conversation was prompted by a recent study reporting self-growing, self-replicating structures assembled from synthetic DNA, with the two chemists disagreeing over how far such work brings researchers towards life itself and over how life should be defined in the first place. Prof Cronin set out the case for assembly theory as a measurable approach to the question, and argued that evolutionary processes are not restricted to organic chemistry. The discussion also covered the prospects for life elsewhere in the universe.
The programme can be viewed on YouTube.