Revolution: Science. David Baum and the origin of life

Professor David Baum is a professor of botany and the Department of Botany Chair at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests are plant phylogenetics, conceptual issues in evolution and systematics, and the origin of life.

"My overarching research goal is to understand how evolution works to generate the remarkable diversity of living organisms around us today. In addition to various theoretical and conceptual interests, I have conducted research in diverse areas of plant evolutionary-developmental biology, plant phylogeny, and molecular evolution. A major current focus is empirical and theoretical research on the origins of life."

During the Revolution Series: Science talk, Professor David Baum discussed features shared by abiotic and biotic worlds that may have permitted the stepwise formation of complexity, and eventually, the origin of life.

He also describes the conceptual framework of chemical ecosystems ecology, and will summarize some preliminary experiments to study the “ecological” dynamics of prebiotic chemical mixtures.