BlueSciCon Episode 42: Temperature oscillations near natural nuclear reactor cores and the potential for prebiotic oligomer synthesis

Questions to consider:

What are natural nuclear reactors?
What planetary conditions allow natural nuclear reactors to occur?
What is so special about natural nuclear reactors with respect to the origins of life?
There are already lots of theories about geological/atmospheric settings for origins of life, why do we need another one and how is it different?
How is the energy of a reactor different from the energy of, say, lightning bolts or UV radiation?
What is significant about the environment where reactors form with respect to the origins of life?
Would we expect natural reactors to be a more or less commonplace phenomenon on exoplanets?
If so, would they occur throughout those planets’ histories or only at certain times and under certain conditions?

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