Abiogenesis

How life could emerge from nonliving matter. Compare hypotheses, evidence, and open questions.

Prerequisite: High-school biology and chemistry. Compare demonstrated chemistry with hypotheses about early Earth. Each lesson includes visual models, exercises, hints, and worked answers.

Lessons

1. 1

   What an origin of life must explain

   Distinguish ingredients, living systems, and evidence about early Earth. Separate the first life from LUCA.

2. 2

   Making and concentrating the ingredients

   Follow molecules through synthesis, dilution, concentration, and loss. Compare surface and vent settings.

3. 3

   Energy and chemical reactions

   Separate reaction speed from energy balance. Examine catalysts, chemical coupling, and environmental gradients.

4. 4

   Copying molecules and the RNA world

   Explore template copying, fidelity, and heritable variation. Assess what RNA experiments establish.

5. 5

   Compartments and protocells

   Examine membranes, growth, division, and inheritance. Test whether separately demonstrated processes can work together.

6. 6

   Comparing origin-of-life hypotheses

   Compare experimental evidence, environmental assumptions, and missing steps. Design a test that distinguishes explanations.