h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was in a seriously good mood yesterday. Spent the evening at a science in the pub lecture given by Terry Kee (STFC Aurora Fellow in Astrobiology) based at the School of Chemistry, Leeds University - on the topic of "did life begin on planet earth." That was interesting enough.

But on the train home I end up sitting across from him, so we continued the discussion from Nottingham to Chesterfield and it ranged from conditions on the early earth, experiments in Iceland involving volcanic rocks, acidic anoxic environments, the late heavy bombardment of earth, the importance of phosphoric reactions in cellular life, the possibility of two biogenesis events on Earth, the goldilocks hypothesis, and the "inevitability" of life occurring and Brian Cox Vs Carl Sagan.

The Amateur polymath and The Prof! - how UTTERLY AWESOME is that?

He's a total superstar for just engaging with me in that way.

My new hero:

http://www.chem.leeds.ac.uk/People/Kee.html

Ooh, I've met him at a schools event. Good bloke, he really engaged the kids.

Yeah he was very energetic and his talk was good. Really enjoyed it. Wanted to get into more depth - but I got that opportunity on the train.