The Origin of Life

Is life written into the laws of nature, or just a bizarre accident, unique in the universe? How can a mix of non-living chemicals be transformed into something as complex as the living cell?

Acclaimed physicist, astrobiologist and writer Paul Davies presents evidence that life began billions of years ago kilometres underground, arguing that it may well have started on Mars and spread to Earth in rocks blasted off the Red Planet by asteroid impacts. This solution to the riddle of life’s origin has sweeping implications for the nature of the universe and our place within it, and opens the way to a radical rethinking of where we came from.