Going back to the big bang for better methods to identify extraterrestrial life 

Dr. Sara Imari Walker is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and a Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. She is a member of the External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute and a Fellow at the Berggruen Institute. Trained in theoretical physics, her work aims to address how life emerges from non-life, and how solving the origin of life might enable us to identify alien life on other planetary bodies.  Dr. Walker and her team seek to answer the question “What is Life?” by identifying whether there are universal laws that describe all life, whether biological or technological, and in turn using these to inspire new insights into life’s origins and how we might recognize alien life and design synthetic life. Visit the Emergence Lab website for more information on their work. 

Planned Polymaths Work: The Polymath award will enable Dr. Walker’s lab to take theoretical ideas on the nature of life and its origins to practice, including applications like setting data standards for origins of life research, algorithmic agency detection, and designing planetary futures. 

Dr. Walker’s lab is a world-leader in creative ideas and theories, particularly on the nature of life and its origins. The Polymath award will enable Dr. Walker’s lab to take theoretical ideas from theory on the nature of life and its origins to practice by making sure their solutions are practical, including applications like setting work on data standards for origins of life research, algorithmic agency detection, and designing planetary futures.