james tour

How did life originate? For decades, many scientists clung to “primordial soup” models.

Proteins and RNA degrade at rates that render their spontaneous formation under natural, undirected conditions highly implausible.

When you plant an inert, seemingly dead thing — a seed — in the ground, and it grows to be a flower, what has just happened? Life has happened. But why?

“Why did science arise in its modern form with its distinctive systematic methods of investigating nature in 16th- and 17th-century Europe?”

After Tour publicly quoted Cronin’s assessment of the field, Cronin responded by claiming he was speaking “tongue-in-cheek.”

Quick, let’s tweet that to Professor Dave — oh, wait… His account on the X platform has been suspended.

Dr. Tour issued his challenge in reply to the claims made by YouTubers, like Dave Farina, about how these hurdles to life’s origin had been fully addressed.

Props to Professor Lee Cronin for agreeing to participate. Wish you could be a fly on the wall? Here’s good news.

Tour issued his challenge in reply to the false claims made by YouTubers, like Dave Farina, about how these hurdles to life’s origin had been fully addressed.

I suppose someone could try to explain why the challenge is unfair or not relevant to the field. That would be very difficult to do.

Helpfully, Meyer stops Tour again and again and asks for clarification of scientific terms and concepts that might not be obvious to all viewers.

Have prebiotic chemists made any progress on the sequence specificity problem? None whatsoever, says Dr. Tour.