1 00:00:00,790 --> 00:00:07,320 [Music] 2 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:08,759 [Applause] 3 00:00:13,379 --> 00:00:11,530 I just wanted to point out like if 4 00:00:14,580 --> 00:00:13,389 astrobiology successful what we're 5 00:00:17,370 --> 00:00:14,590 actually going to accomplish which is 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:17,380 adding a new cosmological parameter to 7 00:00:20,010 --> 00:00:18,490 our understanding of the universe which 8 00:00:21,450 --> 00:00:20,020 I think effectively Eddie was trying to 9 00:00:23,819 --> 00:00:21,460 get at by expanding our horizons and 10 00:00:26,460 --> 00:00:23,829 thinking beyond the solar system but I 11 00:00:28,140 --> 00:00:26,470 think it's really important to kind of 12 00:00:30,210 --> 00:00:28,150 understand the context of our science in 13 00:00:31,679 --> 00:00:30,220 sort in terms of the scope of what has 14 00:00:33,390 --> 00:00:31,689 been accomplished in the past as far as 15 00:00:36,060 --> 00:00:33,400 our understanding of the natural world 16 00:00:37,710 --> 00:00:36,070 and where we're going and so the way I 17 00:00:39,450 --> 00:00:37,720 think about astrobiology really is in 18 00:00:41,610 --> 00:00:39,460 terms of a probabilistic framework about 19 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:41,620 what is the percentage of living matter 20 00:00:44,369 --> 00:00:43,210 that the universe actually can support 21 00:00:45,899 --> 00:00:44,379 and can we constrain that as 22 00:00:48,359 --> 00:00:45,909 astrobiologists and how will we do that 23 00:00:50,189 --> 00:00:48,369 quantitatively and so this is trying to 24 00:00:52,770 --> 00:00:50,199 move into quantitative frameworks for 25 00:00:54,810 --> 00:00:52,780 astrobiology and thinking more about our 26 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:54,820 biology as a quantitative science and a 27 00:00:59,969 --> 00:00:57,250 theoretically driven science than one 28 00:01:01,469 --> 00:00:59,979 just based on sort of anthropic 29 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:01,479 perspectives that we have about life on 30 00:01:06,359 --> 00:01:04,510 Earth and so there's a long tradition 31 00:01:07,710 --> 00:01:06,369 obviously of people asking the question 32 00:01:09,060 --> 00:01:07,720 what is life and trying to think about 33 00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:09,070 it from a definitional perspective 34 00:01:13,740 --> 00:01:10,990 particularly in our field and that's 35 00:01:14,969 --> 00:01:13,750 gotten us really far but I think that we 36 00:01:16,919 --> 00:01:14,979 really need to challenge ourselves at 37 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:16,929 this stage in our biology to really 38 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:19,210 think about what life is but not from a 39 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:20,890 definitional framework but from a 40 00:01:23,940 --> 00:01:22,810 quantitative one and so there's a lot of 41 00:01:25,709 --> 00:01:23,950 people that have quoted or in sronger 42 00:01:27,029 --> 00:01:25,719 over the years as far as his framework 43 00:01:29,550 --> 00:01:27,039 for what his life and thinking about 44 00:01:31,349 --> 00:01:29,560 that but my favorite part of that book 45 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:31,359 is absolutely the one of the last things 46 00:01:34,709 --> 00:01:33,130 he says in the book about a plea for 47 00:01:36,060 --> 00:01:34,719 other laws of physics that there's 48 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:36,070 really something missing from our 49 00:01:40,469 --> 00:01:38,170 understanding of the way the world works 50 00:01:43,260 --> 00:01:40,479 and how we can actually understand 51 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:43,270 ourselves in terms of new principles or 52 00:01:45,270 --> 00:01:44,530 laws that are actually necessary to 53 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:45,280 explain life 54 00:01:49,289 --> 00:01:47,530 so what astrobiology really needs to get 55 00:01:50,580 --> 00:01:49,299 at the question what is life is to 56 00:01:53,190 --> 00:01:50,590 really start thinking about quantitative 57 00:01:54,510 --> 00:01:53,200 approaches and not just definitions but 58 00:01:55,499 --> 00:01:54,520 ways that we can actually quantify bio 59 00:01:57,870 --> 00:01:55,509 signatures in the way that have been 60 00:01:59,039 --> 00:01:57,880 presented so far but also combining that 61 00:02:00,719 --> 00:01:59,049 with new ways of trying to understand 62 00:02:02,969 --> 00:02:00,729 what life is fundamentally and then 63 00:02:03,959 --> 00:02:02,979 unifying how we think about that not 64 00:02:05,340 --> 00:02:03,969 just from the perspective of bio 65 00:02:06,870 --> 00:02:05,350 signatures but how we think about it for 66 00:02:10,590 --> 00:02:06,880 origins science or across all of the 67 00:02:12,059 --> 00:02:10,600 astrobiology disciplines so the question 68 00:02:14,190 --> 00:02:12,069 what is life is all that was really hard 69 00:02:15,540 --> 00:02:14,200 but there are some things life does that 70 00:02:17,850 --> 00:02:15,550 no other physical processes in the 71 00:02:19,410 --> 00:02:17,860 universe do right so we don't know of 72 00:02:20,270 --> 00:02:19,420 any other kind of physical process that 73 00:02:22,340 --> 00:02:20,280 can launch that 74 00:02:23,630 --> 00:02:22,350 into space I say this process of anti 75 00:02:25,610 --> 00:02:23,640 chrétien that David Grinspoon has been 76 00:02:27,740 --> 00:02:25,620 talking about is a biological process 77 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:27,750 it's an interesting process and that 78 00:02:31,220 --> 00:02:29,250 actually requires information it 79 00:02:33,140 --> 00:02:31,230 requires technological civilization like 80 00:02:35,090 --> 00:02:33,150 our own that has some sort of knowledge 81 00:02:36,740 --> 00:02:35,100 in it and so to me that suggestive of 82 00:02:38,090 --> 00:02:36,750 what life is and actually informs kind 83 00:02:40,250 --> 00:02:38,100 of new principle is the same thing with 84 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:40,260 thinking about certain elements in the 85 00:02:44,870 --> 00:02:43,050 periodic table that couldn't be produced 86 00:02:46,250 --> 00:02:44,880 without technology all right but 87 00:02:47,750 --> 00:02:46,260 technology is not usually thought of as 88 00:02:49,400 --> 00:02:47,760 a physical process we don't think about 89 00:02:51,020 --> 00:02:49,410 intelligence as a physical thing we 90 00:02:52,220 --> 00:02:51,030 don't think about it as something to be 91 00:02:53,870 --> 00:02:52,230 discovered in the universe but that's 92 00:02:57,020 --> 00:02:53,880 really what the mission of astrobiology 93 00:02:58,160 --> 00:02:57,030 is so obviously in bio signature science 94 00:02:59,240 --> 00:02:58,170 we've been doing this for quite a while 95 00:03:00,590 --> 00:02:59,250 we've been thinking what are the 96 00:03:02,479 --> 00:03:00,600 signatures what are the things that we 97 00:03:04,759 --> 00:03:02,489 think biology can uniquely produce and 98 00:03:06,590 --> 00:03:04,769 so really what we've been doing 99 00:03:08,300 --> 00:03:06,600 astrobiology right along is reframing 100 00:03:09,890 --> 00:03:08,310 the question from what is life to what 101 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:09,900 does life do and what does life produce 102 00:03:13,699 --> 00:03:12,450 and I think we're at a stage with asking 103 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:13,709 that question that we can really not 104 00:03:17,870 --> 00:03:15,810 just think about what does life do as a 105 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:17,880 bio signature as the signatures of known 106 00:03:21,380 --> 00:03:20,130 life but also use the new frameworks 107 00:03:22,670 --> 00:03:21,390 that people have been talking about in 108 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:22,680 the session so far and that we're going 109 00:03:26,090 --> 00:03:24,570 to hear about all week to think about 110 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:26,100 reframing the question of what life is 111 00:03:30,770 --> 00:03:27,090 itself I'm going to give a couple 112 00:03:32,420 --> 00:03:30,780 examples of that later in my talk so 113 00:03:33,590 --> 00:03:32,430 we've obviously been think about this 114 00:03:36,590 --> 00:03:33,600 question how do we search for life in 115 00:03:38,180 --> 00:03:36,600 terms of what does life produce and Eddy 116 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:38,190 already introduced this series of papers 117 00:03:41,180 --> 00:03:39,930 that came out last year on exoplanet bio 118 00:03:42,650 --> 00:03:41,190 signatures I'm going to talk about that 119 00:03:44,690 --> 00:03:42,660 a little bit more from this quantitative 120 00:03:46,370 --> 00:03:44,700 framework perspective so when we're 121 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:46,380 think about what life produces there's 122 00:03:50,900 --> 00:03:49,170 always the problem of the fact that some 123 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:50,910 things like producers can be produced by 124 00:03:59,300 --> 00:03:54,530 nonliving processes so we can be fooled 125 00:04:00,949 --> 00:03:59,310 and so it could absolutely fool us and 126 00:04:02,390 --> 00:04:00,959 we know this really clearly now from all 127 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:02,400 the examples of false positive bio 128 00:04:05,750 --> 00:04:04,410 signatures that we have and so Eddie 129 00:04:07,789 --> 00:04:05,760 walked through on some really nice 130 00:04:09,770 --> 00:04:07,799 examples of that but one of the things a 131 00:04:11,539 --> 00:04:09,780 quantitative framework allows us to do 132 00:04:14,060 --> 00:04:11,549 is not say that this thing is absolutely 133 00:04:16,069 --> 00:04:14,070 indicative of life and this one is not 134 00:04:17,779 --> 00:04:16,079 indicative of life we need to think 135 00:04:20,060 --> 00:04:17,789 about this thing is having a statistical 136 00:04:22,069 --> 00:04:20,070 likelihood of being produced by life 137 00:04:24,650 --> 00:04:22,079 that's higher than the likelihood of it 138 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:24,660 not being produced by life and so this 139 00:04:28,610 --> 00:04:25,770 is the motivation for thinking 140 00:04:30,290 --> 00:04:28,620 statistically that in order to tweeze 141 00:04:32,590 --> 00:04:30,300 out the certainty that something is 142 00:04:34,870 --> 00:04:32,600 actually a biological process we have 143 00:04:35,980 --> 00:04:34,880 knowledge the fact that biology can't do 144 00:04:37,990 --> 00:04:35,990 anything that physics and chemistry 145 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:38,000 can't do unless you get to a 146 00:04:41,470 --> 00:04:39,530 technological civilization you require 147 00:04:42,820 --> 00:04:41,480 extra information and intelligence we're 148 00:04:45,190 --> 00:04:42,830 talking about small molecule bio 149 00:04:46,660 --> 00:04:45,200 signatures physics and chemistry alone 150 00:04:48,340 --> 00:04:46,670 can produce most of those so we have to 151 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:48,350 understand what is it that biology does 152 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:50,090 above and beyond that and how do we 153 00:04:54,370 --> 00:04:52,970 actually quantify that so if we're 154 00:04:55,870 --> 00:04:54,380 thinking about these things it's not 155 00:04:57,970 --> 00:04:55,880 just the constraints from the fact that 156 00:04:59,560 --> 00:04:57,980 we have false positives that a dead 157 00:05:00,850 --> 00:04:59,570 planet can fool us but we also have 158 00:05:02,950 --> 00:05:00,860 another set of constraints that's really 159 00:05:05,290 --> 00:05:02,960 hard is that our observational 160 00:05:07,300 --> 00:05:05,300 constraints especially with exoplanets 161 00:05:09,340 --> 00:05:07,310 this issue is critical because we get 162 00:05:11,740 --> 00:05:09,350 very limited data and we don't even have 163 00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:11,750 certainty of what we're measuring right 164 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:13,910 we have statistical models that might 165 00:05:17,470 --> 00:05:16,610 produce a given observable and we may 166 00:05:18,700 --> 00:05:17,480 have some likelihood that that 167 00:05:21,010 --> 00:05:18,710 observable is consistent with our 168 00:05:22,990 --> 00:05:21,020 framework and so we need to really move 169 00:05:24,790 --> 00:05:23,000 to not just thinking statistically about 170 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:24,800 bio signatures for bio signatures sake 171 00:05:31,030 --> 00:05:27,170 but also in terms of observational 172 00:05:32,470 --> 00:05:31,040 constraints and so a number of us got 173 00:05:33,790 --> 00:05:32,480 together as part of this nexus and of 174 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:33,800 initiative to try to think 175 00:05:37,660 --> 00:05:35,810 quantitatively about bio signatures and 176 00:05:39,310 --> 00:05:37,670 came up with a Bayesian framework for 177 00:05:40,540 --> 00:05:39,320 life detection there's a lot of 178 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:40,550 different statistical methods you could 179 00:05:44,710 --> 00:05:42,170 use to think about detecting life but 180 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:44,720 this is just one of them and so the 181 00:05:47,980 --> 00:05:46,370 basic idea is that we really need to 182 00:05:50,050 --> 00:05:47,990 think about astrobiology from a more 183 00:05:52,900 --> 00:05:50,060 unified approach and try to think about 184 00:05:55,150 --> 00:05:52,910 how do we actually say with a high 185 00:05:57,310 --> 00:05:55,160 confidence level as Sarah was indicating 186 00:05:58,990 --> 00:05:57,320 that we have detected life rather than 187 00:06:00,670 --> 00:05:59,000 not life which means we need a 188 00:06:02,620 --> 00:06:00,680 conditional probability of life being 189 00:06:05,230 --> 00:06:02,630 produced from that particular set of 190 00:06:06,970 --> 00:06:05,240 observational data now the compounding 191 00:06:09,670 --> 00:06:06,980 factor is that a certain set of data 192 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:09,680 might also be produced abiotic ly so we 193 00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:12,170 have a probability that the same 194 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:14,330 observational data might be produced by 195 00:06:17,530 --> 00:06:16,490 a nonliving process and so if you really 196 00:06:20,020 --> 00:06:17,540 want to have something that's a very 197 00:06:22,030 --> 00:06:20,030 detectable bio signature or a techno 198 00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:22,040 signature it needs to be something where 199 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:24,110 the probability that it was created by 200 00:06:28,840 --> 00:06:26,690 life is higher than the probability it 201 00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:28,850 was created by not life and so what we 202 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:30,110 need to do as a community is try to 203 00:06:34,180 --> 00:06:32,210 figure out what are those things what 204 00:06:35,950 --> 00:06:34,190 are those observables that give us high 205 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:35,960 confidence that we're actually looking 206 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:38,450 at a sample of life and the interesting 207 00:06:42,310 --> 00:06:39,650 thing about this framework is that 208 00:06:44,530 --> 00:06:42,320 doesn't matter for looking at a bio 209 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:44,540 signature about morphology or by 210 00:06:48,310 --> 00:06:46,610 signature about chemistry they can all 211 00:06:50,170 --> 00:06:48,320 go into the same quantitative framework 212 00:06:52,630 --> 00:06:50,180 and so we really need to think about all 213 00:06:54,460 --> 00:06:52,640 the observables as Dave was saying that 214 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:54,470 we possibly can gather to increase the 215 00:06:58,090 --> 00:06:55,370 likelihood that the particular 216 00:07:03,850 --> 00:06:58,100 observation was produced by life and not 217 00:07:05,590 --> 00:07:03,860 a nonliving process so I want to go back 218 00:07:07,210 --> 00:07:05,600 to this idea of thinking about how we're 219 00:07:10,150 --> 00:07:07,220 actually constraining the probability of 220 00:07:12,700 --> 00:07:10,160 life so one of the problems is that we 221 00:07:13,930 --> 00:07:12,710 don't have an a priori probability we 222 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:13,940 don't actually know what the likelihood 223 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:15,890 of life in the universe is all right so 224 00:07:18,850 --> 00:07:17,330 I think I think this is something that 225 00:07:20,290 --> 00:07:18,860 in the astrobiology community we don't 226 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:20,300 think about enough because we like to 227 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:21,890 make wild speculation that life is 228 00:07:26,470 --> 00:07:24,770 common or that life is you know gonna 229 00:07:28,990 --> 00:07:26,480 look like us but the truth of the matter 230 00:07:30,790 --> 00:07:29,000 is we don't know we don't know if we're 231 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:30,800 the only life in the universe and that's 232 00:07:34,180 --> 00:07:32,090 actually empowering just as an 233 00:07:36,220 --> 00:07:34,190 astrobiology community if we think about 234 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:36,230 that from the proper perspective of the 235 00:07:39,460 --> 00:07:37,490 fact that we really need to think very 236 00:07:41,170 --> 00:07:39,470 rigorously about this problem because we 237 00:07:42,370 --> 00:07:41,180 don't know what we're looking for we 238 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:42,380 don't know what life is going to be like 239 00:07:45,850 --> 00:07:43,610 on other worlds we don't even know if it 240 00:07:47,230 --> 00:07:45,860 exists and so we need to start bounding 241 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:47,240 what we think the likelihood of the 242 00:07:51,610 --> 00:07:49,450 process is what we think that thing is 243 00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:51,620 I'm trying to think about it from both 244 00:07:56,470 --> 00:07:54,110 sides so one way I like to think about 245 00:07:58,180 --> 00:07:56,480 astrobiology is that it's not like we 246 00:08:00,010 --> 00:07:58,190 really have sub disciplines that are 247 00:08:01,690 --> 00:08:00,020 tackling separate problems so we have 248 00:08:03,130 --> 00:08:01,700 people that do study that are looking 249 00:08:05,350 --> 00:08:03,140 for intelligent life and people that do 250 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:05,360 origins of life research but really all 251 00:08:08,500 --> 00:08:06,770 of us are kind of interested in this 252 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:08,510 common understanding of what life is in 253 00:08:13,300 --> 00:08:10,130 the universe and how we can actually 254 00:08:15,190 --> 00:08:13,310 understand if we're alone and I think 255 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:15,200 that if we actually try to unify our 256 00:08:17,770 --> 00:08:16,670 perspectives a little bit more that we 257 00:08:19,660 --> 00:08:17,780 actually can make more meaningful 258 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:19,670 progress and so you can think about it 259 00:08:23,950 --> 00:08:21,410 from their perspective of looking for 260 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:23,960 another example of life that's one way 261 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:25,250 of constraining the likelihood or the 262 00:08:29,410 --> 00:08:26,810 understanding the probabilities for life 263 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:29,420 so for example if we do have a 264 00:08:33,850 --> 00:08:31,490 statistical ensemble of exoplanets and 265 00:08:35,530 --> 00:08:33,860 we don't know if there's actually life 266 00:08:37,330 --> 00:08:35,540 on any of those worlds but we have some 267 00:08:39,130 --> 00:08:37,340 confidence that life might be on those 268 00:08:40,690 --> 00:08:39,140 worlds we don't know which world that 269 00:08:42,010 --> 00:08:40,700 actually constrains the probability for 270 00:08:43,839 --> 00:08:42,020 life existing in the universe in a way 271 00:08:46,060 --> 00:08:43,849 that we don't know now and gives us 272 00:08:48,010 --> 00:08:46,070 someone in knowledge and information on 273 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:48,020 the planetary context in which life is 274 00:08:52,780 --> 00:08:50,570 actually likely to emerge from the other 275 00:08:54,730 --> 00:08:52,790 side if we start trying to make life in 276 00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:54,740 the lab under conditions of early Earth 277 00:08:57,329 --> 00:08:56,050 but just expanding 278 00:08:58,680 --> 00:08:57,339 something you have alternative 279 00:09:01,079 --> 00:08:58,690 chemistry's for life in the lab or 280 00:09:03,060 --> 00:09:01,089 eternity of chemical contacts for life 281 00:09:05,130 --> 00:09:03,070 we start to actually think about the 282 00:09:06,660 --> 00:09:05,140 principles that underlie life that can 283 00:09:09,630 --> 00:09:06,670 actually inform the probability of life 284 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:09,640 from the other perspective and so one 285 00:09:12,389 --> 00:09:10,330 thing I think is really interesting 286 00:09:14,430 --> 00:09:12,399 thinking about bio signature science and 287 00:09:16,560 --> 00:09:14,440 this kind of quantitative perspective is 288 00:09:18,030 --> 00:09:16,570 that it starts to get bio signatures 289 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:18,040 more intimately related to other areas 290 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:19,690 of astrobiology and one of the ones I 291 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:21,130 like to think about a lot is origins of 292 00:09:26,370 --> 00:09:24,370 life and the fact that if we had a real 293 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:26,380 theory or a real quantitative framework 294 00:09:29,699 --> 00:09:27,730 for the origins of life we would 295 00:09:30,750 --> 00:09:29,709 actually have a predictive framework for 296 00:09:32,639 --> 00:09:30,760 thinking about life on other worlds 297 00:09:34,769 --> 00:09:32,649 which is not something that we have 298 00:09:36,060 --> 00:09:34,779 right now but this is really going to 299 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:36,070 require a merger of theory and 300 00:09:38,699 --> 00:09:37,570 experiment in a way astrobiologists 301 00:09:40,829 --> 00:09:38,709 haven't been able to accomplish before 302 00:09:42,889 --> 00:09:40,839 and I think we're on that horizon so 303 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:42,899 this actually image came out of a 304 00:09:46,470 --> 00:09:45,010 workshop at Carnegie a couple years ago 305 00:09:48,660 --> 00:09:46,480 and reekin sexualizing the origins of 306 00:09:49,889 --> 00:09:48,670 life which was to the point of trying to 307 00:09:51,420 --> 00:09:49,899 think about merging theory and 308 00:09:53,490 --> 00:09:51,430 experiment in a more meaningful way and 309 00:09:54,930 --> 00:09:53,500 I just give you an example of what that 310 00:09:56,490 --> 00:09:54,940 might look like you can think about the 311 00:09:57,930 --> 00:09:56,500 fact that a lot of the kinds of 312 00:09:59,550 --> 00:09:57,940 chemistry that people are doing now in 313 00:10:01,019 --> 00:09:59,560 origins of life is moving towards sort 314 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:01,029 of quote/unquote messy chemistry 315 00:10:04,500 --> 00:10:03,250 approaches thinking statistically about 316 00:10:06,449 --> 00:10:04,510 the chemistry that might have given rise 317 00:10:07,889 --> 00:10:06,459 to life and so if you think about the 318 00:10:09,420 --> 00:10:07,899 fact that you have some kind of messy 319 00:10:12,930 --> 00:10:09,430 chemical soup and this experiment came 320 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:12,940 from leek Cronin's lab you can actually 321 00:10:17,670 --> 00:10:14,410 think about whether you could actually 322 00:10:19,019 --> 00:10:17,680 distinguish a chemical system from 323 00:10:20,579 --> 00:10:19,029 another chemical system based on its 324 00:10:22,050 --> 00:10:20,589 history this is not even talking about 325 00:10:23,519 --> 00:10:22,060 life but you can actually talk about the 326 00:10:24,630 --> 00:10:23,529 historical context of like the different 327 00:10:26,610 --> 00:10:24,640 minerals and things that we're out of 328 00:10:27,900 --> 00:10:26,620 the chemistry and start to say that you 329 00:10:29,610 --> 00:10:27,910 actually can distinguish chemistry's 330 00:10:31,260 --> 00:10:29,620 based on their history now think about 331 00:10:32,340 --> 00:10:31,270 that in a planetary context imagine 332 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:32,350 you're doing these kind of origins of 333 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:33,490 life experiments but you're actually 334 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:34,810 looking at the diversity of planets that 335 00:10:38,250 --> 00:10:36,850 we have from other areas of astrobiology 336 00:10:40,019 --> 00:10:38,260 environments that we know about origins 337 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:40,029 of life it gives us some constraints on 338 00:10:42,210 --> 00:10:40,930 what kind of chemistry's and 339 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:42,220 complexities of chemistry we should 340 00:10:48,710 --> 00:10:46,570 expect on those worlds we don't have any 341 00:10:50,939 --> 00:10:48,720 large-scale experiments in astrobiology 342 00:10:52,710 --> 00:10:50,949 this experiment I'm showing on this 343 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:52,720 slide is something from the particle 344 00:10:55,560 --> 00:10:54,010 physics community it's super coming a 345 00:10:58,079 --> 00:10:55,570 conde which is neutrino physics 346 00:11:01,350 --> 00:10:58,089 experiment this experiment is designed 347 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:01,360 to bound the proton to Craver II so if 348 00:11:06,090 --> 00:11:03,250 you think about proton decay it's never 349 00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:06,100 been observed so we have an experiment 350 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:07,570 that's basically trying to look for 351 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:08,570 something that we don't 352 00:11:11,980 --> 00:11:10,730 no physical exists it's motivated by 353 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:11,990 theory we have some theories that 354 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:13,610 predict that process might exist in the 355 00:11:17,410 --> 00:11:15,290 universe and what we're doing with this 356 00:11:19,990 --> 00:11:17,420 experiment it was rebuilt a large volume 357 00:11:21,820 --> 00:11:20,000 of water to look for proton decay and 358 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:21,830 every time we don't observe the event we 359 00:11:25,810 --> 00:11:23,330 have a bound on the probability of that 360 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:25,820 event happening in the universe imagine 361 00:11:29,620 --> 00:11:27,050 if we did this with an Origin 'life 362 00:11:30,940 --> 00:11:29,630 experiments right and we actually took 363 00:11:33,130 --> 00:11:30,950 those kind of ensemble statistic 364 00:11:34,510 --> 00:11:33,140 approaches to thinking about messy 365 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:34,520 chemistry's and their likelihood for 366 00:11:37,810 --> 00:11:35,930 life didn't constrain them by our 367 00:11:39,910 --> 00:11:37,820 anthropocentric biases about what we 368 00:11:43,630 --> 00:11:39,920 think life is and like chemistry do what 369 00:11:46,090 --> 00:11:43,640 it does on planets in the lab and we 370 00:11:47,470 --> 00:11:46,100 bound the process we at least can look 371 00:11:49,090 --> 00:11:47,480 at the probability we can connect 372 00:11:50,590 --> 00:11:49,100 origins of life science to exoplanet 373 00:11:52,390 --> 00:11:50,600 science and we can find ways of thinking 374 00:11:57,010 --> 00:11:52,400 quantitatively about bio signatures in 375 00:11:59,140 --> 00:11:57,020 those experiments the main point of this 376 00:12:01,060 --> 00:11:59,150 is that our experiments both in absolute 377 00:12:03,220 --> 00:12:01,070 observations in terms of how we're doing 378 00:12:05,140 --> 00:12:03,230 observations now with exoplanets they're 379 00:12:06,310 --> 00:12:05,150 they're based on likelihoods that we 380 00:12:08,740 --> 00:12:06,320 think that you know this is the most 381 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:08,750 likely observation they have statistical 382 00:12:12,460 --> 00:12:10,970 errors associated both experimental and 383 00:12:14,380 --> 00:12:12,470 the fact that we're just constrained in 384 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:14,390 the limited data that we can take and 385 00:12:17,950 --> 00:12:16,010 the experiments that we're doing in the 386 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:17,960 lab now for origins of life hit least 387 00:12:21,820 --> 00:12:19,130 the most cutting-edge ones for my 388 00:12:23,740 --> 00:12:21,830 perspective they're all statistical so 389 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:23,750 what we need to do is build statistical 390 00:12:26,770 --> 00:12:25,010 frameworks for biosignatures 391 00:12:28,690 --> 00:12:26,780 we have a statistical framework for 392 00:12:30,310 --> 00:12:28,700 assessing the likelihood of life and now 393 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:30,320 building into that framework we need to 394 00:12:32,980 --> 00:12:31,610 think more statistically about the bio 395 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:32,990 signatures that were actually developing 396 00:12:36,100 --> 00:12:34,610 and use them to motivate more 397 00:12:38,890 --> 00:12:36,110 understanding of what we're thinking 398 00:12:40,030 --> 00:12:38,900 about as far as life what life is and so 399 00:12:41,290 --> 00:12:40,040 one way to think about this that might 400 00:12:42,610 --> 00:12:41,300 be more familiar to most people in this 401 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:42,620 room is just to acknowledge the fact 402 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:44,690 that life is an emergent property right 403 00:12:47,830 --> 00:12:46,490 nobody in this room has individual atoms 404 00:12:49,150 --> 00:12:47,840 that are alive but we're all alive as 405 00:12:52,150 --> 00:12:49,160 sort of collections of atoms that are 406 00:12:53,770 --> 00:12:52,160 interacting molecules interacting so the 407 00:12:55,540 --> 00:12:53,780 quantitative observables of you is a 408 00:12:58,150 --> 00:12:55,550 living entity to talk about how alive 409 00:12:59,830 --> 00:12:58,160 you are must be things that are emergent 410 00:13:01,960 --> 00:12:59,840 properties they have to be statistical 411 00:13:05,100 --> 00:13:01,970 in nature life is a statistical 412 00:13:07,060 --> 00:13:05,110 phenomenon it's a macro scale phenomena 413 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:07,070 so we need to think about it from that 414 00:13:09,550 --> 00:13:08,330 perspective and we need to start 415 00:13:11,560 --> 00:13:09,560 developing bio Spooner's does that 416 00:13:13,150 --> 00:13:11,570 really quantify that I think one of the 417 00:13:14,740 --> 00:13:13,160 things anything sara touched on this a 418 00:13:16,540 --> 00:13:14,750 little bit is not to think about 419 00:13:18,550 --> 00:13:16,550 something as measuring you know this 420 00:13:20,230 --> 00:13:18,560 thing's life or this thing's no life but 421 00:13:21,020 --> 00:13:20,240 you can assign a likelihood to it being 422 00:13:24,260 --> 00:13:21,030 life and actually 423 00:13:26,180 --> 00:13:24,270 it's not even quite that that's the most 424 00:13:27,500 --> 00:13:26,190 interesting thing about it it's actually 425 00:13:29,510 --> 00:13:27,510 that you could talk about how alive a 426 00:13:30,740 --> 00:13:29,520 system is some systems are just more 427 00:13:32,060 --> 00:13:30,750 alive than others this is like the 428 00:13:33,860 --> 00:13:32,070 nature of the origin of life transition 429 00:13:35,750 --> 00:13:33,870 it didn't go from non-life to life there 430 00:13:37,310 --> 00:13:35,760 a gradation of stages in between and so 431 00:13:39,050 --> 00:13:37,320 we need to figure out how to quantify 432 00:13:43,190 --> 00:13:39,060 those stages we need to understand how 433 00:13:45,110 --> 00:13:43,200 we can actually measure it so one of the 434 00:13:45,980 --> 00:13:45,120 things that my group's been doing is 435 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:45,990 actually thinking about something called 436 00:13:49,610 --> 00:13:47,850 plant we calling nominally planetary 437 00:13:51,950 --> 00:13:49,620 systems biochemistry but really think 438 00:13:53,210 --> 00:13:51,960 about life at a planetary scale and 439 00:13:54,740 --> 00:13:53,220 using all of the data that we have 440 00:13:56,150 --> 00:13:54,750 across biochemistry on earth to really 441 00:13:59,120 --> 00:13:56,160 understand what the statistical 442 00:14:00,770 --> 00:13:59,130 properties of biochemistry are and so 443 00:14:02,270 --> 00:14:00,780 this necessitates kind of going to an 444 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:02,280 abstract approach so we can look at 445 00:14:05,000 --> 00:14:03,810 planet Earth and we can necessarily see 446 00:14:06,470 --> 00:14:05,010 it's alive because we have some 447 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:06,480 subjective notion of what we think life 448 00:14:10,310 --> 00:14:08,850 is but the whole point of astrobiology 449 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:10,320 is if we look at another world it might 450 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:12,450 be alive and we might look at it and we 451 00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:14,250 might not recognize it so we actually 452 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:16,050 have to look at the patterns and the 453 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:18,570 data and understand what it is about 454 00:14:22,310 --> 00:14:21,090 that system that's alive and I think 455 00:14:23,990 --> 00:14:22,320 that those things are necessarily going 456 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:24,000 to be some kind of abstract mathematical 457 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:25,290 principle and the only example I can 458 00:14:28,190 --> 00:14:26,610 give you that really like resonates for 459 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:28,200 me it's just to think about the fact 460 00:14:31,820 --> 00:14:29,490 that we're all bound to the planet right 461 00:14:34,670 --> 00:14:31,830 now by gravity right does anybody not 462 00:14:36,830 --> 00:14:34,680 bound by gravity okay good all right so 463 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:36,840 we all day the laws of physics right but 464 00:14:40,250 --> 00:14:39,090 you don't intuitively obviously think 465 00:14:41,660 --> 00:14:40,260 about the fact that you're sitting in 466 00:14:43,130 --> 00:14:41,670 your chair right now and not floating 467 00:14:45,860 --> 00:14:43,140 off into space because the space around 468 00:14:46,910 --> 00:14:45,870 you is curved right it's because of the 469 00:14:48,860 --> 00:14:46,920 curvature in space and time that's a 470 00:14:50,090 --> 00:14:48,870 pretty abstract concept and I think 471 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:50,100 we're looking at life we have to think 472 00:14:53,060 --> 00:14:51,930 in similar levels of abstraction and so 473 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:53,070 one of the ways that we've been doing it 474 00:14:56,630 --> 00:14:54,450 to quantify it it's actually think in 475 00:14:58,220 --> 00:14:56,640 terms of network properties a network is 476 00:14:59,780 --> 00:14:58,230 a really nice representation because it 477 00:15:01,610 --> 00:14:59,790 allows you to talk about the statistical 478 00:15:04,220 --> 00:15:01,620 properties of a system as it's organized 479 00:15:05,540 --> 00:15:04,230 and so in this particular network that 480 00:15:07,670 --> 00:15:05,550 I'm showing here this is a network 481 00:15:09,020 --> 00:15:07,680 representation of the biosphere well you 482 00:15:10,250 --> 00:15:09,030 mean by that is this is all of the 483 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:10,260 biochemistry that's known 484 00:15:14,060 --> 00:15:11,730 that's cataloged in the Kyoto 485 00:15:15,860 --> 00:15:14,070 encyclopedia of genes and genomes in 486 00:15:17,630 --> 00:15:15,870 each mall each node in the network is a 487 00:15:19,850 --> 00:15:17,640 molecule and it's connected to by other 488 00:15:22,220 --> 00:15:19,860 molecules if it participates in a common 489 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:22,230 reaction you can be part of a social 490 00:15:25,370 --> 00:15:24,090 network in the sense that all of you 491 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:25,380 could be nodes in a social network like 492 00:15:28,670 --> 00:15:27,090 on Twitter if anybody's tweeting right 493 00:15:30,350 --> 00:15:28,680 now and you could be connected by other 494 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:30,360 people by liking them that allows you 495 00:15:32,910 --> 00:15:31,410 just to study the statistical 496 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:32,920 regularities in that system 497 00:15:35,069 --> 00:15:33,910 it allows you to say some of the 498 00:15:37,169 --> 00:15:35,079 emergent properties in terms of the 499 00:15:38,789 --> 00:15:37,179 organization and so one of the things 500 00:15:41,460 --> 00:15:38,799 that we've been able to show is that if 501 00:15:44,699 --> 00:15:41,470 you look at biochemistry on planet Earth 502 00:15:47,309 --> 00:15:44,709 it is statistically very regular it has 503 00:15:49,499 --> 00:15:47,319 very regular Network properties in terms 504 00:15:51,299 --> 00:15:49,509 of fact if you look at networks of what 505 00:15:54,299 --> 00:15:51,309 reactions and individual organism 506 00:15:56,780 --> 00:15:54,309 catalyzes an ecosystem catalyzes or the 507 00:16:00,419 --> 00:15:56,790 planet as a living entity as a biosphere 508 00:16:02,099 --> 00:16:00,429 catalyzes they have the same structural 509 00:16:03,599 --> 00:16:02,109 properties in terms of their network 510 00:16:05,579 --> 00:16:03,609 representation that scale is a function 511 00:16:08,069 --> 00:16:05,589 of the number of compounds and it's 512 00:16:09,599 --> 00:16:08,079 different than random chemistry now the 513 00:16:10,949 --> 00:16:09,609 point of this in terms of a statistical 514 00:16:12,359 --> 00:16:10,959 framework is that once you know what 515 00:16:14,069 --> 00:16:12,369 those kind of scaling relations are you 516 00:16:14,909 --> 00:16:14,079 have a quantitative rule you can 517 00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:14,919 actually start talking about 518 00:16:18,689 --> 00:16:17,350 statistically distinguishing systems so 519 00:16:20,340 --> 00:16:18,699 if I'm one thing we've been able to show 520 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:20,350 is if you just look at the patterns and 521 00:16:23,220 --> 00:16:21,730 the reactions in a network you can 522 00:16:24,929 --> 00:16:23,230 statistically distinguish anarchie 523 00:16:25,889 --> 00:16:24,939 a--from a bacteria you don't need to 524 00:16:26,789 --> 00:16:25,899 know anything about the chemistry 525 00:16:28,079 --> 00:16:26,799 they're doing you just need to know 526 00:16:29,819 --> 00:16:28,089 about the patterns the statistical 527 00:16:32,729 --> 00:16:29,829 patterns and the correlation of how the 528 00:16:34,409 --> 00:16:32,739 molecules are interacting if you're 529 00:16:35,669 --> 00:16:34,419 talking about agnostic bio signatures 530 00:16:37,409 --> 00:16:35,679 and you want to build quantitative 531 00:16:39,179 --> 00:16:37,419 frameworks for not only looking for life 532 00:16:40,619 --> 00:16:39,189 on other worlds but quantifiably 533 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:40,629 predicting what that life might look 534 00:16:44,999 --> 00:16:42,730 like if you have a set of statistical 535 00:16:46,799 --> 00:16:45,009 constraints you can start to think about 536 00:16:47,970 --> 00:16:46,809 building machine learning algorithms for 537 00:16:50,249 --> 00:16:47,980 constructing chemistry's with 538 00:16:52,109 --> 00:16:50,259 alternative chemistry's but the same 539 00:16:53,129 --> 00:16:52,119 sets of constraints and so what we're 540 00:16:54,780 --> 00:16:53,139 really looking for are what are the 541 00:16:56,069 --> 00:16:54,790 statistical regularities across life on 542 00:16:57,720 --> 00:16:56,079 earth and how do we actually quantify 543 00:17:01,650 --> 00:16:57,730 them and then build predictive models 544 00:17:04,019 --> 00:17:01,660 for astrobiology another kind of measure 545 00:17:06,149 --> 00:17:04,029 you might use is to think about 546 00:17:08,220 --> 00:17:06,159 biomolecular chirality now usually we 547 00:17:09,449 --> 00:17:08,230 think about this also as we do with life 548 00:17:11,610 --> 00:17:09,459 as a black or white issue it's either 549 00:17:12,659 --> 00:17:11,620 homo chiral or it's not but if you 550 00:17:14,309 --> 00:17:12,669 actually look at the statistical 551 00:17:16,189 --> 00:17:14,319 patterns in chirality across the 552 00:17:17,939 --> 00:17:16,199 biosphere it's a much more complex story 553 00:17:19,829 --> 00:17:17,949 so it's shown in this network 554 00:17:23,159 --> 00:17:19,839 representation and how do Kim is giving 555 00:17:25,529 --> 00:17:23,169 a talk on this work later today is the 556 00:17:27,179 --> 00:17:25,539 biosphere level Network now looking for 557 00:17:29,519 --> 00:17:27,189 statistical patterns and whether a 558 00:17:30,930 --> 00:17:29,529 molecule is chiral or achiral now if you 559 00:17:31,830 --> 00:17:30,940 have a chiral molecule it's not just 560 00:17:33,690 --> 00:17:31,840 whether it's left-handed or right-handed 561 00:17:35,639 --> 00:17:33,700 but how many chiral centers it has it's 562 00:17:36,930 --> 00:17:35,649 a very complex problem but you can 563 00:17:38,129 --> 00:17:36,940 actually start to look at statistical 564 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:38,139 regularities and build particular 565 00:17:42,690 --> 00:17:40,450 frameworks for how lot how biology is 566 00:17:44,610 --> 00:17:42,700 actually using chirality to architect 567 00:17:46,549 --> 00:17:44,620 biochemical networks and maybe there 568 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:46,559 might be some universal rules underlying 569 00:17:50,130 --> 00:17:49,090 and you just speed up so pathway 570 00:17:51,690 --> 00:17:50,140 assembly and thinking about 571 00:17:53,580 --> 00:17:51,700 probabilistic bio signatures has also 572 00:17:55,140 --> 00:17:53,590 been discussed already the only plan I'm 573 00:17:56,790 --> 00:17:55,150 gonna make about this with what Luke 574 00:17:58,410 --> 00:17:56,800 Ronan is doing is that it actually 575 00:18:00,120 --> 00:17:58,420 connects to theoretical frameworks 576 00:18:01,919 --> 00:18:00,130 because not only do you have a way of 577 00:18:03,180 --> 00:18:01,929 fresh holding for biology but you have a 578 00:18:05,730 --> 00:18:03,190 way of thinking about what biology is 579 00:18:07,049 --> 00:18:05,740 doing in chemical space which allows us 580 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:07,059 to think about building quantitative 581 00:18:11,250 --> 00:18:08,650 theory and predictive frameworks for 582 00:18:12,419 --> 00:18:11,260 other chemistry's you can do the same 583 00:18:14,340 --> 00:18:12,429 thing with thinking about life on other 584 00:18:15,570 --> 00:18:14,350 planets and so this is on Harrison Smith 585 00:18:17,549 --> 00:18:15,580 poster that's gonna be presented later 586 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:17,559 thinking about how could you actually 587 00:18:22,230 --> 00:18:18,970 predict what biochemistry might look 588 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:22,240 like on other worlds and it also leads 589 00:18:25,830 --> 00:18:23,770 to statistical characterization of 590 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:25,840 exoplanet atmospheres and so one of the 591 00:18:28,770 --> 00:18:26,770 things that we've been doing is taking 592 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:28,780 this idea of taking observational 593 00:18:32,700 --> 00:18:30,730 uncertainties and building statistical 594 00:18:34,620 --> 00:18:32,710 models for how you might think about 595 00:18:36,210 --> 00:18:34,630 what's detectable and what's actually 596 00:18:39,060 --> 00:18:36,220 going to quantify the differences in 597 00:18:40,650 --> 00:18:39,070 plants that are alive or not again using 598 00:18:42,090 --> 00:18:40,660 this kind of network based approach and 599 00:18:43,770 --> 00:18:42,100 I'm just going to make a nod to Tulsa 600 00:18:45,690 --> 00:18:43,780 Fisher's talk later this week about 601 00:18:46,919 --> 00:18:45,700 statistical characterization of jovi and 602 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:46,929 atmospheres based on the network 603 00:18:50,430 --> 00:18:48,730 structure of the planetary atmosphere 604 00:18:52,740 --> 00:18:50,440 and how you can actually start to think 605 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:52,750 about system level organizational 606 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:53,890 planets from a quantitative framework 607 00:18:57,780 --> 00:18:55,450 and talk about quantitatively the 608 00:18:59,220 --> 00:18:57,790 differences so just go back to the 609 00:19:00,810 --> 00:18:59,230 Bayesian framework I think the thing 610 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:00,820 that's really important for us to start 611 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:03,010 thinking about is how we're actually 612 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:04,510 building our approaches together for a 613 00:19:07,830 --> 00:19:06,490 common goal and how we can put this into 614 00:19:09,750 --> 00:19:07,840 quantitative frameworks that are really 615 00:19:11,820 --> 00:19:09,760 going to bring out your biology into the 616 00:19:14,690 --> 00:19:11,830 next decades where we actually can talk 617 00:19:16,890 --> 00:19:14,700 about statistical confidence levels in 618 00:19:18,780 --> 00:19:16,900 what the likelihood of life is in the 619 00:19:19,710 --> 00:19:18,790 universe and with that I'm just going to 620 00:19:26,300 --> 00:19:19,720 thank my group because they're pretty