Ask An Astrobiologist

SYNOPSIS

Our guest is Dr. Henderson "Jim" Cleaves! Jim studies the origin of life on Earth and its potential beyond, specifically asking the question: how does chemistry become biology? He is interested in how organic compounds are produced from cosmically-abundant, inorganic compounds, and how these compounds self-organize to form more complex and potentially self-replicating systems. Dr. Cleaves is a member of ISSOL, The International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, an international astrobiology society; a senior research investigator at Blue Marble Space Institute of Science; and a professor of chemistry at Howard University.