COPL news channel

In the Autumn Semester 2024, an 'Origin and Prevalence of Life' related extension of the existing Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Sciences is available for the first time. Interested students are invited to submit their applications.

26 Apr 2024 - How did life on Earth begin and proliferate? And is there life beyond our planet? At this ETH Global Lecture, Nobel Prize winner Didier Queloz and former NASA research head Thomas Zurbuchen discuss what is already known about the origin of life on Earth and beyond, what projects are underway at ETH Zurich – and what life itself has taught them.

We are very pleased to announce the 2024 Cohort of the NOMIS-ETH Fellows. Between July and September three postdoctoral fellows will join the COPL thanks to the generous support that we receive from the NOMIS Foundation.

Physicists at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich wanted to know whether the planned LIFE space mission could really detect traces of life on other planets. Yes, it can. The researchers reached this conclusion with the help of observations of our own planet.

How did the reactions that first produced life on Earth cope with scarce bio-essential elements before the evolution of enzymes? Cosmic dust may have fuelled prebiotic chemistry. Natural sedimentary processes could have concentrated cosmic dust into nutrient-rich deposits. Our study challenges the idea that cosmic dust wasn't a local fertilizer for early life.

We are expanding our small team and look for a highly motivated colleague ideally as per May 1, 2024, or agreement.

Craig Walton is the first NOMIS Fellow at the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich. With an unconventional idea, he wants to find out the conditions under which life originated on Earth.

Sascha Quanz searches for traces of life on extrasolar planets orbiting alien stars. The astrophysicist believes that gaining an understanding of life and its origin on Earth is an important stepping stone.

Protein-​like aggregates known as amyloids can bind to molecules of genetic material. It is possible that these two types of molecules stabilised each other during the development of life – and that this might even have paved the way for the genetic code.

Researchers from the Centre for Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zurich emerge from the inaugural conference of the Origins Federation with insightful perspectives about ongoing research on life in our Universe.