• Question: how did we get here?

    Asked by 795thaf33 to Dan, Christie, David, Dawn, Sian on 14 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by 858thaf44, harry.
    • Photo: David Robertson

      David Robertson answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Nobody really knows. We can follow evolution back a long way, but what started life off in the first place is unknown, although lots of people have theories.

    • Photo: Dawn Lau

      Dawn Lau answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      It’s a question that many scientists are still actively trying to solve! When the planet was newly formed, the building blocks for life may already have been present. These molecules could then evolve to become self-replicating, allowing genetic information to be passed on. Replication allows for the process of natural selection, so some molecules must have evolved to take advantage of the creation of a cellular membrane – creating the single-celled organism. These still exist today, such as bacteria and yeast. Multicellular organisms evolved from single-cell organisms, which means we are all technically descendants of bacteria.

      Of course I am sure there are more theories, as no one really knows the answer yet!

    • Photo: Sian Thomas

      Sian Thomas answered on 20 Jun 2016:

      And I guess it depends whether you mean life of human life. A few years ago there were lots of people trying to replicate mixing the things present in the primordial soup to get a living organism. Of course, this is a lot different from a human – so still lots of unanswered questions.

      Ethics is really interesting in this space – should we be carrying out such experiments and where are the boundaries of what is acceptable. The way that science works here is to engage people from all backgrounds on ethics committees who make decisions – so if you are interested in this and decide to take science at University ask about how you can engage with the Univeristy’s ethics committee – you will be amazed by the nature and scope of the discussions!

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