Origins of Life

The Grand Question of Life’s Origins

The Historical Setting of Origins Research

What Is Life?

Is There Life on Mars?

Earth’s Oldest Fossils

Fossil Isotopes

Molecular Biosignatures

Emergence

The Miller-Urey Experiment

Life From the Bottom of the Sea

The Deep, Hot Biosphere

Experiments at High Pressure

More Experiments Under Pressure

Deep Space Dust, Molten Rock, and Zeolite

Macromolecules and the Tree of Life

Lipids and Membrane Self-Organization

Life on Clay, Clay as Life

Life’s Curious Handedness

Self-Replicating Molecular Systems

Günter Wächtershäuser’s Grand Hypothesis

The RNA World

The Pre-RNA World

Natural Selection and Competition

Three Scenarios for the Origin of Life