ABSTRACT
Montpellier in southern France is a lovely city only 10 kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea. It is early in July 2011 and Montpellier is host to a big scientific meeting with a big name: The ISSOL (International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life) and Bioastronomy Joint International Conference. The six-day meeting is packed with invited lectures, contributed oral presentations, and accepted posters. Invited lectures are given by some of the most eminent names in the field. Those scientists giving contributed (rather than invited) talks are no less respected, as are those who are standing stalwartly by their poster exhibition boards, keen to chat with any and all who express the desire to learn more than can be fit on a 119 x 84 cm surface. Tommaso Bellini submitted a request to give a contributed oral presentation of his research. His petition was denied.1
