Abstract

The diversity and prolific number of planets discovered have revolutionised our conception of the nature and history of planet formation. They have opened up the idea of the possible rarity of planetary systems similar to our own, but also exciting prospects for the potential to probe the atmospheres of planets in search of traces of life. We are living in a historic moment that brings us closer to exploring life in the universe and understanding the origins of life on Earth. The talk will present an outlook of this landscape and will discuss the implications of these recent findings. New insights about the origins of life will be presented in the light of recent experiments about a possible origin of pre-biotic chemical building blocks as well as a possible long-range pathway for detecting Earth- like systems amenable for remote study of life.