Many people appear to believe that fame has nothing to do with talent or hard work. Some think that all they need do to become a celebrity is court a little controversy or expose a little flesh and get their picture in the tabloids. While there is some truth in this belief the fact is that fame that is based upon skill, talent or knowledge is far more respected than that which is based upon sensationalised exploits in the Big Brother house. Think of the contrast between Jade Goodie and Stephen Hawking.
One guaranteed way to become famous and potentially very wealthy is to answer one of the many great unanswered questions. Now I didn't say I was going to provide an easy technique did I? Answering one of these great questions will immediately bring recognition, invites to appear on talk shows, lecture tours and book deals. So what are these great unanswered questions?
There are actually lots but one that most of us will understand is: "Where did life come from?" Now we need to ignore the mad ideas purported by creationists who choose to believe that all life was created by some form of deity and that the earth is no more than 10,000 years old. These ideas clearly disregard the huge body of proven scientific evidence that tells us that the solar system was formed around 4.5 billion years ago and that the earliest evidence of life can be traced to around 3.8 billion years ago.
Sedimentary rocks, 3.8 billion years old, discovered in west Greenland in the 1990s, were found to have an unusually low proportion of the heavy isotope of carbon. This is thought to be evidence that micro-organisms have been at work. These rocks were formed during a very turbulent time in the Earth's history when it was being struck by large asteroids that would boil the oceans.
Darwin himself thought that life was likely to have emerged from a "warm little pond" but in fact it is more likely to have been from a hot, salty cauldron. Conditions like this still exist on earth today, surrounding hydrothermal vents on the sea bed. Geothermal activity pumps geysers of super heated water into the sea and these areas are surrounded by a rich variety of micro-organisms, some exceptionally primitive in form, that don't rely upon sunlight for energy.
But how did a whole bunch of lifeless chemicals combine to form living organisms? This is the big question and if you can figure out the answer you will earn some well deserved fame and fortune, without having to appear on Big Brother.
By Tony Gee
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