Life on Earth probably began in some “primordial soup”, but where did the ingredients of that soup come from? The geology of early Earth didn’t contain amino acids and other organic chemicals. Recent research on meteorites has shown that they contain thousands of chemical compounds, including many key organics. Prof. Martin McCoustra, Heriot-Watt University, researches how chemistry occurs in space. Gas-phase chemistry and chemistry on dust and ice created the organic building blocks that were ultimately responsible for the evolution of life on Earth and, very probably, throughout the Universe.

Perthshire Society of Natural Science is one of the oldest Scientific Societies in Scotland and encourages interest in the natural World by means of lectures, meetings and field outings.

The annual Curious Minds Lecture series, presented by Culture Perth & Kinross and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science is themed around “Contemporary Science in Scotland” and, over past seasons, speakers have covered a stimulating array of scientific topics from dinosaur fossils in Skye, through the human genome to black holes, gravitational waves and the science of consciousness.