Was Cosmic Dust Responsible for Life on Earth?

What is cosmic dust? What is it made of and what can it tell us about the Universe? Could cosmic dust be responsible for life starting on Earth? Figuring it all out with Dr Craig Walton from Cambridge University, and a Nomis Fellow for ETH Zurich’s Centre for Origins and Prevalence of Life.
👉 Dr Craig Walton:
craigwaltongeosci.wordpress.com/
👉 How Did Early Earth Get The Ingredients for Life?
• How Did Early Earth Ge...
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00:00:00 Intro
00:01:43 What is dust
00:08:43 Dust falling on Earth
00:16:05 Dust and the origin of life
00:46:30 Dust on other worlds across the Universe
01:03:29 Current obsessions
01:08:16 Final thoughts and more interviews
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[@MrJacobegg]

I like most of your interviews, but this was BY FAR my favorite interview that you've done to date! Dr Walton has some fascinating knowledge to share on the potential origins of life and does so in a way that is really engaging. Thank you, Frasier!

[@frasercain]

You never thought dust would be so interesting. :-)

[@lyledal]

Dr. Walton's work is really interesting. Love the interviews, Fraser! And, "round 2?" YES, PLEASE.

[@iamsuzerain3987]

I found this interview truly fascinating...amongst your best. Hope we'll see round 2 with this insightful guest👍

[@JCDenton2097]

Great guest, loved his obsessions

[@Zuringa]

He was fascinating. Thanks for that. We also share the same belief that life on Earth is probably the first. hope you get Dr. Walton back when he has the results to his meteorite.

[@paulkartsyart4415]

Fantastic interview! Question; does the ISS have a cosmic dust collector on it? It seems that this would give you a sample of pure cosmic dust versus what comes to our atmosphere. I am assuming the answers yes, but it would be nice to know.

[@Smo1k]

There's both high-altitude airplanes and balloons gathering it. Dunno whether the ISS is doing it, though. Edit: There was a plan for it in 1987. The article is on nasa.gov as 19880010182.pdf

[@brucethomas471]

Great interview! The part about phosphorus and nitrates being along a narrow split makes our Rare Earth seem all the more rare. How many more things are we going to find out Earth needed for complex life? I'd love to hear Peter Ward's take on the new info. Please have him back on soon! As it is, I'm going to have to watch this again. So much info!!🤩💥🌠

[@rhoddryice5412]

Truly fascinating interview. Time ran away, didn’t feel like 70 minutes at all.

[@swiftycortex]

Awesome, new space info. Thanks Fraser Cain & team plus supporters. Love you all

[@stevegilliver5104]

Fantastic interview, Fraser. Can you follow up with Dr Walton once he's had the results back from his meteorite. Thank you for all your work Fraser. Very much appreciated.

[@allixandra]

Wow! This was fascinating.

[@cyrusthevirus9878]

A strain of indica that slaps

[@Deadcat_.]

What a great interview. Def one of my favorites!

[@michaelherron362]

This is one of the most interesting interviews that Fraiser has made. That is saying a LOT! Love how interactive it was.

[@frasercain]

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@rayreynolds7066]

As you often say it’s always dust- never realised their was so much value in dust. Great interview, cheers

[@tygical]

i mean, earth is just cosmic dust with extra steps

[@beastinshow2362]

la-di-daa, seems like someone's aiming to get laid after earth-high.. ^^ great interview, yup.

[@leoncorns1450]

my mind has been expanded by this interview.

[@harry.tallbelt6707]

Amazing interview! Really enjoyed this one, thank you both :)

[@lightinthedark_]

Loved this interview. Fascinating.

[@tomhasling]

Excellent interview. Thank you.

[@BlueNeonBeasty]

Amazing conversation! what fascinating insights

[@cittaaukoto_japan9926]

Excellent interview. Fascinating information

[@Ava31415]

Wow, that conversation went well. Fascinating thank you both. ✴✴✴✴✴

[@brucehansensc]

What is interesting and different about this interview is its cross discipline scope. Most scientists focus on a small slice of a subject, which can be useful and interesting of course. But Dr. Walton is thinking about cosmic dust on a system level involving cosmology, chemistry, biology, geology. Hard to do but he seems to have it working.

[@spellkowski6996]

this channel is so amazing good, bro the kids today have such an amazing resource

[@jasongannon7676]

Love to have a bucket of it to use in my pottery

[@pilotnamealreadytaken6035]

Technically earth was cosmic dust so go get a bucket and fill it and success

[@ralphclark]

It was a real pleasure listening to Dr Walton. It’s rare to meet a scientist working in such a cross-disciplinary field who is so knowledgeable, so articulate and so switched on.

[@Flowmystic]

Keep the interviews coming. These are the gold standard.

[@atticmuse3749]

Another great interview, really enjoying these! I love getting to hear casual but still technical conversations about science from people who know their stuff.

[@atticmuse3749]

Oh and as others have said, I hope you are able to bring Dr Walton back in the future to talk about those new results he was expecting.

[@johnburr9463]

Very interesting discussion. You are good at tracking these folks down.

[@jackistern3263]

Your choice of subject specialists is very wonderful, a very interesting video

[@gwenever7286]

very intresting and very well explained thank you

[@stanspanish253]

Great video. Thanks!

[@symmetrie_bruch]

cracking fella, great talk. hope you´ll have him back

[@jimmygravitt1048]

As usual, great interview.

[@txwaterbird6115]

I absolutely LOVE this episode. So now I'm obliged to listen to more. Thank you.

[@andreasboe4509]

Great interview. I especially like the study of the narrow borderland between life and non-life. More. More.

[@olorin4317]

Great interview.

[@charcoal386]

The one question i have is, whats written on the bottom of his cup?

[@desmond-hawkins]

@@sadaksara I think it's 1x6, 2x10, you can see it pretty well at 32:00. If that's what it says, your idea that it's a price sticker makes sense: 1 mug for £6 and 2 for £10.

[@suyapajimenez516]

Interesting interview. I learned new things and possibilities

[@sparkee666]

It couldn't be the cosmic dust because space has a vacuum. I've tried that joke on a different video, but I thought it would work better on this one.

[@Hovado_Lesni]

Great interview. I'm a Patreon supporter I don't watch the videos only listen to the audio feed but I came here to see the face of Dr Walton and to leave a like and comment for the algorithm

[@picksalot1]

Enjoying these interviews and the questions you ask. It looks to me that there are many "Islands of Stability" from Particles to Galaxies that are conducive to life, knowledge, and understanding. Thanks

[@markhollingsworth3262]

Fascinating. I went back to watch this just to find out where cosmic dust came from. That took two minutes. Then the real fun started!

[@churchdiscography]

My friends wanted me to go see Dune: Part Two with them. But then this interview dropped, and I chose to watch it instead, to their derision. Who's laughing now? They are. They are laughing.

[@savetheplantet5799]

I think he's right. We may just be first. I believe we'll find more evidence of life forming than we will evidence of past life. The scale as we know it thus far heavily tips in his theoretical favor. He just put this interview way up in the top for me. I absolutely have to follow him . And try to study along side. He is 1000% on the right track in my opinion.

[@drwaynebuck]

Awesome new perspective on life's origins

[@michaelcoviello]

Thanks!

[@shondab2906]

I really enjoyed this episode

[@jamesw5713]

Interesting conversation on cosmic dust.

[@ForwardSynthesis]

The part where you briefly discussed habitable planets 2 billion years older than the Earth is really interesting to me. "First" and "Alone" really are different, because the latter implies fixed probability for life, whereas the former implies it may have changed over time. It could be that changes in dust reach a threshold where you have enough to start concentrating it in warm melt pools on planets, and this suddenly boosts up the chance of reactions occurring. It's possible there are mechanisms that increase the probability of life in a non-linear fashion, and Earth is the winner in terms of nearing the end goal of becoming Grabby, but we'll find microbes to be extremely common across the galaxy. What would reveal this would be if life on other planets was all dated to a similar time, meaning it was very improbable before a certain point but saw an explosive probability increase after a certain point (increasing galactic metallicity, enrichment of cosmic dust reaching a certain threshold, gamma ray events decreasing in frequency etc, and GREs, metallicity even seem coupled). Sadly we are nowhere near determining this, but if life was found in basically every water environment in the solar system, that might support this conclusion.

[@slugra7357]

Watching professor Dave videos that feature James Tour makes this one fascinating and puts biogenesis into a frame of reference which I can relate to. Pure quality Fraser, many thanks.

[@sentientflower7891]

You do know that Professor Dave misrepresents chemistry not by malice but because he doesn't understand chemistry?

[@alfonsopayra]

amazing

[@RobinCrusoe1952]

What an interesting and informative talk. Have you a non-fiction book out Dr. Walton?

[@leonmusk1040]

Oceanic manganese nodules grow by themselves the same as star formation in the wake of a blackhole through a gas stream. The wakes ( Hamiltonian and Raleigh-Taylor) around them help deposit more material as it grows so does the wake until Hamiltonian instabilities form creating more nodules downstream. Also works in chemistry hence stir bars :) .

[@swapshots4427]

Yes.! Now I'll watch.

[@MarkS-yb1bl]

A little poem I wrote about Stardust: Across the canvas of stardust, galaxies with spirals of cosmic grace, Black holes waltz in shadows deep, nebulae unfurl their ethereal lace. Comets streak like fiery brushstrokes, painting stories on the velvet night, While planets spin, a silent symphony, bathed in celestial light. On Earth, a stage of emerald and sapphire, life takes its fleeting bow, From ocean's cradle to redwood's crown, a vibrant, pulsing show. Tiny blades of grass reach for the sun, a million wings take flight, Each heartbeat a drumbeat, each breath a whispered verse, in this exquisite, luminous light. I am a note in this cosmic serenade, a fleeting spark in the grand design, My steps etched in time's ever-flowing stream, a thread in the tapestry divine. From stardust I rise, to consciousness I bloom, a spirit woven in nature's embrace, And in every sunrise, every falling star, I find a reflection of love's sacred trace. So let me dance with the wind and whisper with the trees, Let me sing with the rain and laugh with the sun-kissed leaves. Let me glow with the fireflies and shimmer with the moon, For in this grand ballet of existence, my soul finds its joyful tune. And with each beat of my grateful heart, I offer thanks to the unseen hand, The weaver of dreams, the artist of stars, who painted worlds across the land. For in every raindrop, every grain of sand, a whisper of love rings true, A message etched in stardust's light, "I am here, dancing with you."

[@MARILYNANDERSON88]

Wondrous. Thanks

[@MarkS-yb1bl]

@@MARILYNANDERSON88 thanks, Marilyn. It was a fun poem to do.

[@JamesCairney]

That was an extremely interesting conversation about dust, properly good! And Henmans hill has lost its name to Murrays mound. (That sounds really weird unless you know tennis)

[@denijane89]

Oh, I'd love to read his books. I love good sci fi.

[@dustinking2965]

Very interesting! In addition to the life question, I wonder what dust can tell us about the history and makeup of the galaxy (or beyond?). Good to there's more to cosmic dust than messing up astronomic observations.

[@davidswift9120]

This is fascinating. So it's a bit of a downer then for potentially finding life on (or in) Europa etc. as the ocean will dilute everything?

[@richardloewen7177]

1. As fascinating as this discussion topic is, the overall discussion is moot, until and unless we look at the probability challenge of abiogenesis--of life emerging from non-life. (Variable 4 in the Drake Equation.) Beyond the WHAT of precursors is the HOW of life emergence--within ONLY chemical resources. For a better glimpse of that challenge, please view James Tour's lecture at Waterloo University. (A department chair at Rice--700+ published papers; 100+ patents--he is a top synthetic organic chemist.) 2 Speaking of space dust, we can finally measure its accumulation when we get back to the moon. To see how thick the dust layer is on Apollo-era remnants. (Such as on the laser reflectors, used to measure lunar recession. )

[@user-fn4qw8yk6y]

I agree with everyone else in this comment section. The most interesting interview. Including the mug base puzzle.

[@topquark22]

A limiting factor for life is the availability of phosphorus. Yes, that's right, phosphorus is a critical ingredient for life: It is present in the energy-transfer molecules ATP and ADP. Even in the film "Soylent Green" makes reference to phosphorus reclamation plants.

[@XionUnjust]

Another extremely informative interview. Thanks again so much for having him on the channel. I wonder if getting cremated would actually get rid of the phosphorus that you have inside of you. The reason I ask is because I do want to get cremated and if it does remove phosphorus then I might reconsider so I can keep life going on this planet

[@tpseeker3367]

Check out Caitlin Doughty @AskAMortician. She has some very Informative video's on Funerals, Embalming, Cremations, Green Burials & pretty much a great channel all around for Information on how & what to expect for a death.

[@harry.tallbelt6707]

Curiously, I have never thought about what happens _after_ we figured out abiogenesis and can reproduce it in the lab. Like, does this open any new biotech doors for us? Would we be able to use it somehow? And even if not, what would be the impact on biology? Like, maybe we do it several thousand times and discover new types of organic chemistry, new molecule complexes that can replicate themselves, so that might give us new ideas about how life could work, and potentially new biosignatures. There's this idea of shadow biosphere - maybe there is another fully independent life tree on Earth right now, but it is chemically different to our life and therefore our paths don't cross, so we haven't detected it yet. While this is probably not the case, if we figure out abiogenesis, we're kind of almost making it the case by that, because we can now create new life trees all by ourselves! Edit: Anyway, Dr. Walton, here's your new science fiction novel idea :)

[@ericsmith6394]

It mostly informs the search for life outside the Earth. For example if dust concentration + UV is critical then subsurface oceans become unlikely hosts. We already know a lot of alternate biology adjacent to Earth's. Things like additional DNA base pairs and chirality were discovered years ago. Life is not using all the options we know how to add. We might expand this list by going back to extreme basics, but we'll probably discover these things other ways long before abiogenesis yields the same result.

[@andrelandriault6441]

Loved the interview. It got me thinking about a question. If the process of space dust accumulating in one spot on the ice (eventually sinking down into the ice and down to liquid water) creates a great environment for the origin of life, wouldn't that same process be present on icy moons such as Europa and Enceladeus? Would Jupiter and Saturn tend to clear out all of the dust around them?

[@oleran4569]

I'll bet Dr Walton has read Destiny's Road by Niven. He just laid the groundwork for a major issue in the story.

[@harry.tallbelt6707]

The last phrase about other interviews got cut 😅 But I see there is a link to another interview in the description

[@larryzaleski5033]

This idea seem unlikely to me. Phosphorous is the 11th most common element in the earth's crust. Seems like plenty to me for life to both start and keep going.

[@ericsmith6394]

It's also pretty reactive and not much use if it's already bound up in a stable molecule.

[@jefflaporte2598]

Great interview. I'm just curious as to why the water on earth couldn't just form as the planet cooled in the early years. Where did the water on Europa come from?

[@Temp0raryName]

Fraser, for your Q&A video please: What is the largest size of gold star you could have, before it collapsed into a black hole? I need to know, so I can award the appropriate size gold star for working a cat video into an astrophysics video.

[@911review]

Fraser When i learned about optics many many moons ago, the size of the lens or mirror was important, but also , so was the focal length. I am wondering if we could build a telescope with a many mile/kilometer F length and have the sensor not attached to the mirror or lens, but the distance could be moved by thrusters and computers. i didnt think this was possible at first, but, it seems LISA must be doing something similar ?? thanks Brad Mayeux -

[@MARILYNANDERSON88]

Can our solar system travel through huge dust and ice storms? is the dust stationary or also traveling rapidly through space.

[@evealpizar]

Any idea why the Chelyabinks meteriote split in half? Is it common for meteorites to do that?

[@marvinmauldin4361]

Everything is always 20 to 30 years away, from finding life on other planets in the 19th century, to personal (if clunky) flat screen video phones in 1928, to flying cars in 1947, to free electricity from nuclear fusion in 1952, to how to create life in 1958, to achieving immortality in 1965...

[@horizonbrave1533]

lol "I saw your box of cosmic dust and I just stuck my hands in there"

[@sentientflower7891]

Fraser Cain could you please spend an hour interviewing Dave Farina exclusively Abiogenesis given that he has specialized on the subject. Specifically I would like to hear Dave Farina spend an hour talking about Abiogenesis without engaging in insults & slanders against creationists. You can start Dave Farina at sterile Earth 4 billion B.C. and allow Dave Farina to describe a coherent narrative of the operation of chemistry from the simplest components of biological molecules until you reach the very first successful living cell. He must also describe that first living cell as he has declared that it could be a lot simpler than the simplest cell today and its chemistry might differ from today's chemistry. Conduct the entire conversation within the context of atheism and without any need to defend atheism from the encroachment of religion. I want to hear an exclusively scientific discussion of Abiogenesis.

[@savetheplantet5799]

Given the earth was formed from the first grain of material . And then compounded out ward, many forms of carbon were here ready for synthesis with these mentioned minerals etc to create a reaction conducive to "life" . Man I am right in this conversation with you guy lol. Everyone in the house is like " dad who's here? " 😂

[@Yezpahr]

45:41 "Which environment would have that"? Other planets didn't have their insides churned around and re-heated since formation. I still think Theia is responsible for making the planet habitable and keeping it that way for the long term road. Think about it. It could be responsible for that extra bit of phosphorus, sulfur and potassium. Earth has tectonic plates, this is coming from convection currents deep down, we generally accept it's from the heat within while other planets cooled down already, but the slabs of theia recently found deep inside the planet could be adding to that effect too. Volcanism is also boosting the chances for RNA to form right? Recently discovered too.

[@kurtisengle6256]

I highly reccomend "Nick Lane: The electrical origins of life." Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry, Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Nick Lane delivers the most compelling lecture I have yet enjoyed on the topic of how it all began. If he is as right as he seems to be, life automatically happens on any wet, rocky world. And quickly.

[@frasercain]

That makes the Fermi Paradox even more puzzling. Where is everyone?

[@sentientflower7891]

I watched that video and find it extremely doubtful that the method described is either automatic or inevitable.

[@ke4nt]

Want to know the name and topic about the recent sci fi novel he wrote, and what happens when his work on us being in a sweet spot

[@ke4nt]

Comes to fruition

[@ke4nt]

And yes!! Round 2 !!!

[@sentientflower7891]

46:15 thirty years? Civilization doesn't have three decades left. Civilization ends with this problem unsolved.

[@savetheplantet5799]

🔥 🔥 🔥

[@SeekerStudiosOfficial]

Life began in billions of tiny pockets, micro-ecosystems.... you have to think that early life was nearly exclusively bacterial in nature, so it’s possible to have rich environments, that near its edges, where resources are lower, the “poor kids from the wrong side of the tracks” equivalent in the bacterial neighborhood, are able to innovate novel methods of acquiring and processing or producing the required elements and chemistry for biological processes... so the research and development is happening side by side with thriving golden age abundance.

[@sentientflower7891]

43:30 watch out, Dave Farina might need to debunk you for this statement. According to Dave Farina's latest video (unless he's made a more recent one, his output is great although the quality of analysis is low) there's no destruction of organic molecules problem, not even for RNA as he has found an RNA molecule that will survive for a decade in the wild.

[@Seantmalone42]

Can JSWT detect extra galactic planets?

[@johnbirk843]

If I may ask a question tangentially related to the question of cosmic dust and the question of interstellar flight at sublight speeds. Approaching light speed even small objects impacting would have incredibly high energy. An Interstellar craft hitting dust or small particles between stellar systems, would they be able to survive into situations, close to lightspeed, impacts will destroy the craft and it's sub light speeds even minor impacts would wear the way over time. There is also a question of resources locally versus resources Interstellar. I refer to this as the Hong Kong McDonald's burger, a group of very wealthy people after a party decide to get a McDonald's burger, someone says well there's one two blocks away and someone else postulates I had the greatest McDonald's burger ever in Hong Kong, being wealthy they jump into their private jets fly to Hong Kong to buy the putative Superior McDonald's burger, this is obviously an incredible waste of time, money and resources. So if one looks at a civilization around a solar system similar to ours and it not only has resources from planets moons, asteroid belt, Kuiper belt ant Port belt, why would they waste their time going to another solar system to extract resources. Scientia Habet Non Domus, (Knowledge Has No Home) antiguajohn

[@sulljoh1]

FC: "is always dust"

[@kerbangol.8386]

I've only just started about 5-10 minutes in, but I know the solar system has been traveling in the local bubble for the last 3 million years, so the Cosmic dust would have been much thicker prior to 3 million years ago.

[@nealramsey4439]

Could this cosmic dust on glaciers be the cause of the Cambrian explosion after snowball Earth? It would have given many millions of yrs to build up and then had volcanic ash added to it, all being washed into the ocean when it melted.

[@nathanaelcard]

"DusT. Anybody? No? DusT."

[@chammockutube]

Amazing how the universe screams if there’s some intelligent design behind it all, and much of the scientific community screams back no no no go away…that’s impossible!

[@frasercain]

They just want to see evidence. So many things in the past attributed to the supernatural ended up having an explanation. Like Zeus hurling thunderbolts from Olympus . If curiosity leads to God, awesome. It just needs to have evidence.

[@theunknownunknowns5168]

Mr Fraser, are aliens symmetrical and do extraterrestrials have a left hand or right hand traffic bias? I understand you are a science reporter not a scientist. I also understand no one knows the answer... yet. But we can explore.

[@camsy83]

Duuuuust!! 💪

[@ryanquick1824]

FUN THOUGHT... this means that although we ALL are hardly unique in this particular respect, ALL life on earth IS actually ALIEN LIFE.

[@sum_rye_hash_321]

Cody s lab made fertilizer from space rocks

[@paulskinback717]

If its falling on the sea minute after minute and sinking to the bottom would this make the sea rise.

[@deltalima6703]

It makes the planet heavy and squishes the middle.

[@sentientflower7891]

57:25 nobody has made life yet. Nor is anyone even attempting to do so, by the way. Nobody can even imagine such an event occurring within any context.

[@marshalleubanks2454]

Could cosmic dust also be a means of panspermia?

[@frasercain]

That has been proposed, yeah.