Theoretical origin of life; another take (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, April 10, 2015, 14:35 (3515 days ago) @ David Turell

No one knows how, but the RNA theory still offers hope:-http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/in-the-beginning-the-new-science-of-the-origins-of-life/6365468-"According to Lane, the environment that created life would need to be ‘continuously' producing the building blocks of RNA in ‘large numbers'. ‘Any form of replication is doubling,' says Lane. ‘So you need an environment that will feed you.'-"‘This is one of the problems with a soup,' says Lane, referring to Darwin's 1871 theory that life emerged in a ‘warm little pond'—a soup of chemicals showered in light and heat. ‘You simply run out of ingredients very, very quickly—the concentration is too low.'-"Matthew Powner isn't giving up on Darwin's soup just yet, though.-"‘We are thinking about a scenario where you have pools or shallow bodies of water,' he says.-"According to Powner, placing the origins of life in the depths of the ocean would lose a key piece needed in the creation of RNA: UV light. ‘Ultraviolet light provides an energy source for certain chemical reactions to take place,' he says. ‘The importance of ultraviolet light suggests that the chemistry would have taken place near the surface of a body.'-"So the debate rages on. Over the past few decades scientists have edged closer to understanding the origin of life, but there is still some way to go, which is probably why when Robyn Williams asked Lane, ‘What was there in the beginning, do you think?', the scientist replied wryly: ‘Ah, “think”. Yes, we have no idea, is the bottom line.'"