{"id":171251,"date":"2025-10-27T13:38:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T19:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/?p=171251"},"modified":"2025-12-11T16:49:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T22:49:23","slug":"antonio-lazcano-the-mexican-scientist-who-studies-the-origin-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/human-social\/antonio-lazcano-the-mexican-scientist-who-studies-the-origin-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How Antonio Lazcano Turned Childhood Curiosity into a Career Devoted to the Origin of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>&#8220;I always knew I wanted to be a scientist!&#8221; says Mexican biologist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fciencias.unam.mx\/vida-en-ciencias\/distinciones\/antonio-lazcano\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Antonio Lazcano<\/a> with a smile. An international figure in evolutionary biology and the science of life\u2019s origins, Lazcano shares how his deep curiosity about how the world works led him to embrace science from a very young age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researcher spoke with <em>TecScience<\/em> before launching his book\u00a0<em><strong>El retablo de las maravillas<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(<em>The Marvelous Puppet Show<\/em>) at the <a href=\"\/es\/tag\/feria-internacional-del-libro-monterrey-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025 Monterrey International Book Fair<\/a>. The book brings together eight essays he published over the course of his career, aimed at making biology accessible and honoring key figures in the scientific community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"El bi\u00f3logo Antonio Lazcano presenta su nuevo libro en la #FILMTY2025 #biologia #tecscience\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cBLMKTIWo9I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From the&nbsp;<em>Iliad<\/em>&nbsp;to the Laboratory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>He attended elementary school\u2014and part of middle school\u2014in the United States, in a school environment that actively promoted science. Classrooms were equipped with microscopes, telescopes, books, and weekly documentary screenings, all set against the backdrop of the space race frenzy and the U.S. government&#8217;s fear of falling behind the Soviets after the launch of their first satellite, Sputnik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His family also played a key role in awakening his interest in culture and science. When he turned 11, his mother gave him the first complete edition of&nbsp;<em>The Iliad<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>The Odyssey<\/em>; his father gave him a book explaining Alexander Oparin\u2019s theories on the origin of life; and an uncle gave him&nbsp;<em>Microbe Hunters<\/em>&nbsp;by Paul de Kruif, in which one of the characters, Lazzaro Spallanzani, had conducted experiments on spontaneous generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After returning to Mexico, he lived with his grandmother in Mexico City, where he was surrounded by books and regularly attended opera concerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it was during high school at the <a href=\"\/es\/tag\/unam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Autonomous University of Mexico<\/a> (UNAM) that he discovered\u2014and fully embraced\u2014his true vocation, one that he continues to pursue today, at 75 years old, as a scholar and science advocate: <strong>studying the origin of life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo study and understand how life emerges, you <strong>have to reconstruct the astronomical, planetary, geological, and chemical conditions<\/strong>,\u201d Lazcano explains. \u201cIt also raises a series of philosophical questions: What is life, and how can we define it? At what point does the transition from \u2018non-living\u2019 to living occur? For me, it was natural to feel a pull\u2014both scientific and intellectual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Lazcano is one of the most respected voices in this field. He is <strong>the Mexican researcher with the most publications in\u00a0<em>Science<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Nature<\/em><\/strong>; he served on NASA\u2019s scientific advisory committee overseeing the creation of the Astrobiology Institute; and he\u2019s the first Latin American to serve as president of the International Society for the Study of the Origins of Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is a member of El Colegio Nacional and the Latin American Academy of Sciences, and he is also a professor at UNAM, where he founded and currently directs the <strong>Origins of Life Laboratory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s in this lab where Lazcano conducts experiments aimed at testing theories about how life may have emerged, drawing on advances in technology and integrating fields such as astronomy, biology, geophysics, microbial evolution, and cosmochemistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><picture>\r\n                <source srcset=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano1.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\">\r\n                <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-171253\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano1.jpg 750w, https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/>\r\n            <\/picture><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Lazcano is a member of El Colegio Nacional, an institution dedicated to the promotion of culture and science in Mexico. (Photo: Alejandro Salazar \/ TecScience)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How the Origin of Life Is Studied<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Using chemical analysis methods, researchers can simulate in the lab the conditions of early Earth\u2014around 4.5 billion years ago\u2014and recreate the atmospheres of that era, before life existed, to better understand the composition of the bodies from which meteorites originate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve taken part in experiments with great colleagues in the United States, including Joan Or\u00f3, from whom I learned how to work with meteorites and simulate the conditions of early Earth, and later with Stanley Miller, with whom I worked for many years trying to replicate those conditions in the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Miller was a pioneer in this kind of research. In one of his most famous experiments, he placed gases\u2014such as methane and ammonia, which scientists like Oparin and Urey believed were present on primitive Earth\u2014into a flask and triggered chemical reactions by applying energy sources. Lazcano took it a step further by studying the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969. After analyzing it, he compared its composition to his lab results to evaluate whether his experiments accurately mirrored the chemistry of the early solar system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meteorites come from outer space\u2014some from the Moon, others from Mars or asteroids. Some even originate from the disintegration of comet nuclei, which are essentially balls of ice. This last type serves as the model for experiments in his lab: carbon dioxide ice combined with stony and metallic meteorites. As these icy bodies approach the Sun, they shift from a solid to a gaseous state. Over time, what remains is a material known as \u201crefractory\u201d\u2014small rocky fragments that can be analyzed and which, according to Lazcano, are as old as the solar system itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe central idea of Oparin\u2019s theory is that the origin of life wasn\u2019t a sudden event, but rather the result of a process,\u201d the scientist explains. \u201cThe organic compounds or metallic elements we find in experiments are part of that process. You could say they\u2019re a necessary condition, but not sufficient on their own for life to appear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another field that has greatly contributed to understanding early life evolution, he adds, is <a href=\"\/en\/biotechnology\/bioinformatics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bioinformatics<\/a>\u2014the comparison of protein and nucleic acid sequences, which is something his lab actively engages in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lazcano\u2019s team has also used bioinformatics tools to study the early evolution of organisms. In the lab, they analyze amino acid and nucleotide sequences, as well as the spatial structures they form. During the Covid-19 pandemic, one of his former students, Rodrigo J\u00e1come, was working on those structures when he noticed that some viral proteins contain very ancient components. That observation gave rise to a new line of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cToday, everyone talks about DNA, but before that, RNA was the genetic material,\u201d he explains. \u201cModern viruses like <a href=\"\/en\/tag\/covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coronavirus<\/a>, dengue, chikungunya, and <a href=\"\/en\/health\/eradicating-hiv\/\">HIV<\/a> have RNA as their genetic material. So we use these viruses as models\u2014not as direct examples of life from primitive Earth, but as models of very ancient genomes. Understanding what viruses are made of is essential to any strategy for stopping them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Lazcano, one of the most fascinating aspects of studying the origin of life is how it brings together multiple disciplines. It\u2019s a field where talent from biology, engineering, computer science, astronomy, and many other areas can converge and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He believes that progress in this area will continue through that very convergence\u2014by diving deep into the specifics of each field and learning how to integrate them. He adds that young people are Mexico\u2019s most valuable scientific and developmental resource; all that\u2019s missing is stronger support through cross-cutting science policies and the recognition of science as a vital component for building a modern, democratic, and balanced society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><picture>\r\n                <source srcset=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano2.webp\" type=\"image\/webp\">\r\n                <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-171254\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano2.jpg 750w, https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/10\/antonio-lazcano2-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/>\r\n            <\/picture><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The biologist presented his book\u00a0<em>El retablo de las maravillas<\/em>\u00a0at the 2025 Monterrey International Book Fair. (Photo: Alejandro Salazar \/ TecScience)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>The Marvelous Puppet Show<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking about his book,\u00a0<em>El retablo de las maravillas<\/em> (<em>The Marvelous Puppet Show<\/em>), Lazcano says he decided to publish it after rereading a series of essays he had written over the course of his career and realizing how deeply he admired figures who helped shape the history of science. He mentions names like Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin; Rachel Carson, the researcher whose book\u00a0<em>Silent Spring<\/em>\u00a0exposed the environmental dangers of pesticides and sparked movements that led to major shifts in U.S. environmental policy; and Lynn Margulis, the scientist who proposed the theory of endosymbiosis and with whom he shared a close friendship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The book\u2019s title was inspired by one of Miguel de Cervantes\u2019 short plays, or&nbsp;<em>entremeses<\/em>, intended to evoke the sense of wonder and curiosity people feel when they encounter the natural world\u2014like when they visit a science or natural history museum for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen we witness a phenomenon like a meteorite falling from the sky or the splendor of a rainforest, we become that child again\u2014marveling at the world for the first time,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s where the title comes from. The book\u2019s purpose is to show that science has a history, one shaped by men and women who had predecessors\u2014and who, we hope, will have successors. And that science can be both incredibly fun and profoundly meaningful. For those of us drawn to science, there\u2019s a joy that\u2019s not just intellectual\u2014it\u2019s also social and political. There\u2019s a magnificent aesthetic joy to be found in science.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Were you interested in this story? Do you want to publish it? Contact our content editor to learn more about\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:marianaleonm@tec.mx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">marianaleonm@tec.mx<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The study of the origin of life is a field that seeks to reconstruct and understand how the first cells came into existence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":171252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[572],"class_list":["post-171251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-social","tag-monterrey-international-book-fair"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Antonio Lazcano, the Mexican scientist who studies the origin of life | TecScience<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UNAM professor spoke with TecScience about his passion for science and his lifelong dedication to studying the origins of life. At the 2025 Monterrey International Book Fair, he presented his latest book, El retablo de las maravillas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/human-social\/antonio-lazcano-the-mexican-scientist-who-studies-the-origin-of-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Antonio Lazcano Turned Childhood Curiosity into a Career Devoted to the Origin of Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UNAM professor spoke with TecScience about his passion for science and his lifelong dedication to studying the origins of life. 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