STAKE YOUR LIFE ON A 1-IN-10-TO-THE-140TH POWER CHANCE OF BEING RIGHT? Calculating probabilities is usually only of interest to certain sorts of mathematicians and insurance industry actuaries.

But what if your life depended on odds so long there isn’t enough room here to display them? That’s the question at the heart of “Origin of Life.” WARNING: This video graphically illustrates the awesome odds against that first protein forming in the soup billions of years ago.

And by the way, I won’t be posting here for the next week. Check out the reason why here. ANOTHER WARNING: There’s a Blues Brothers element to the post, for those of you old enough to remember real comedy. If you’re too young, just ask your parents, or a Baby Boomer friend who, like me, can still (mostly) hear.