Cosmology and the Origin of Life

Abstract

We discuss some of the cosmological constraints on the evolution and persistence of life in the Universe and in hypothetical universes other than our own. We highlight the role played by the age and size of the universe, and discuss the interplay between the main-sequence stellar lifetime and the biological evolution time scale. The consequences of different versions of the inflationary universe scenario are briefly described in the light of limits on the possible variation in the values of the constants of Nature.

Latex file 13 pages. Invited talk, Varenna Conference on The Origin of Intelligent Life in the Universe, 30 Sept. 1998