Life on earth is a crazy accident. We have no idea how it arose or whether it will survive. Peter Ward joins Vasant Dhar in episode 76 of Brave New World to chat about the origins of our planet, the many extinctions and resurgences of life, and the future of our species.

Useful resources: 1. Peter Ward on Wikipedia, University of Washington and Amazon. 2. Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe -- Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee. 3. A New History of Life -- Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink. 4. The Medea Hypothesis -- Peter Ward. 5. The Flooded Earth -- Peter Ward. 6. Roy Chapman Andrews on Amazon. 7. Jason and the Golden Fleece --  Apollonius of Rhodes. 8. Hercules, My Shipmate -- Robert Graves. 9. The Gaia Hypothesis. 10. SETI Institute. 11. Rare Earth Hypothesis. 12. The Drake Equation. Check out Vasant Dhar’s newsletter on Substack. Subscription is free!