CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE : Theorizing on Earth Life’s Origins
Want to know a good way to get young minds interested in science? Tell them that life on Earth may have been brought here by an advanced alien race.
That’s what Francis H. C. Crick, the man who helped discover the DNA molecule, demonstrated at Cal State Northridge last week when he spoke to visiting high school science teachers, college professors and students about the origin of life on Earth.
Crick mixed scientific knowledge with speculation to bring members of the audience to their feet asking questions. He said that life on Earth, which scientists believe originated at least 3.7 billion years ago, may have been sent here as a bacteria by an advanced alien race whose solar system was endangered.
“It’s clearly quite easy in principle to send bacteria. You can easily show that if you freeze bacteria, it can last 10,000 years,” said Crick, who earned the Nobel Prize in 1982 and now works at the Salk Institute in San Diego.
He said that such speculation has been enhanced by recent evidence indicating that the early atmosphere of the Earth may not have been hospitable to the theory that life somehow evolved from a primordial soup.
Crick also said that the alien idea could help scientists fill in the genetic blanks in current research, which involves tracking down family trees of molecules.
Crick cautioned against taking the alien theory too seriously. But he added that the same should be true of most speculation about the origin of life.
“This is a subject which is not easy to pin down because we can’t go back in time and see what was happening,” Crick said. “It is a problem and we don’t have the answer.”
Members of the audience did not seem to mind that an answer was not readily identifiable and many had questions about the alien theory.
Steven Oppenheimer, a CSUN biology professor, said he invited Crick to speak as part of his pre-college teacher enhancement program, with the idea of getting educators excited about science.
“He provides tremendous stimulus and boost to our morale,” Oppenheimer said.
Teachers and students agreed.
“I find that virtually any topic he tackles will be provocative and post more questions than it answers,” said Joseph Moore, also a CSUN biology professor.
“I think he’s way ahead of his time. He’s very inspirational,” said Craig Duryea, a molecular biology student. “I was just going for my undergraduate degree. He makes me more interested in master’s work.”
That’s just what Crick wanted to hear. “Maybe the younger ones of you will live long enough to learn these answers,” said Crick, who is 76.
