Origin of Life

Evolution, as we know it, happens after the fact of life. We have no direct observation into how life was initially created. Whatever happened, happened long before fossils.

However, modern understanding of biochemistry suggests that the same competitive mechanisms that we observe in the biological competition between organisms also happens in the biochemical mechanisms that underly those organisms. In fact, chemical competition and success seems completely independent of life at all. This gives rise to the idea that whatever biochemical phenomenon that preceded life may well have followed the same rules of competition and selection of modern life.

Living organisms are complex; staggeringly, mind-bendingly complex. Heinlein said in one of his novels*, "Biochemistry makes atomic physics look simple. But presently it begins to make sense." One of the big problems of determining the origin of life is how to explain how such a complex system could have arisen from simple components.

The followings links explore these things in depth.

First, let's look at cosmology. Nobel Intent discusses the fundamental physics of the universe in this link on is our place in the universe special?

The Origin of Metabolism must be explained and that's the goal of this article.

DNA is a preposterously fragile molecule and the chances that it was basis of inheritance initially is hard to swallow. RNA, however, has some fewer limitations. Consider the Chemistry of RNA.

The Chemistry of a pre-biotic world is massively different from the modern world. Once life intervenes, the nature of geologic chemistry is itself altered. So, whatever environment life arose in it wasn't this environment.

One theory is early RNA organisms. This is the evidence of an RNA World.

Cells aren't merely naked hunks of biochemistry floating in the water. They are enclosed hunks of biochemistry floating in the water. Without encapsulating the chemistry, life can't get going. Here's an article on the the First Proto Cells.

If we started with an RNA world, how did it change. This article considers transitioning from an RNA world.

Once we have cells like bacteria, we have to consider the origin of eucaryotes-- those cells that compose animals, plants and fungi. There's some evidence that viruses are implicated in the Origin of Eucaryotes. We also have to wonder at the origin of DNA Life.

We're animals. We want to know where we came from. Like anything else biological, when we look at our origin things get complicated. This article looks at The Scrambled Origin of Animals.

Things also got interesting when Plants Invaded the Land.

Skipping ahead to human speculations. One of the problems we have is determining the commonality of genes. A gene, for example, might generate a given protein in a stem group of animals. The animals multiply and mutate, spread around, hybridize and mutate again. In the resulting population, how do we determine the history of that gene? We do not have the original sample-- that's dead and gone. Technology to the Rescue: Determining Genetic Ancestry.

Humans look off the earth to determine Extra-Terrestrial Life. Or try to figure out Alternative Life paths. Or determine if the Composition of Comets could have contributed.

For years, evolutionists have left this topic largely alone. The point of creation was something so unknown and so speculative that there was little of note to report. Now, however, we understand a little more. It's time for speculation once again.

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Links of Interest
Faux Consumer Watchdogs in Canada
Biggest Drawing in the World
Drivers, +, Hedgehogs, -
Europe's Manned Space Craft
Pterosaur paleobiology. And here. Wikipedia.
TSA vs. Art