Nascence Man

June 16, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

NAI scientist Mike Russell is the subject of a recent Nature News Feature which likens his work on the origin of life to the alchemists of yore. His research, however, involves transforming elements not into gold, but into the ‘stirrings of life.’ The article describes the equipment in his lab as ‘the biological equivalent of a particle accelerator,’ as he is using two linked containers to attempt to recreate the first moments of life on Earth. One contains a liquid proxy for the Earth’s early oceans, and the other holds a liquid proxy for hydrothermal vents that might have existed in those early oceans. The liquids mix in a container with a catalyst of iron and nickel sulphide…