abiogenesis
Sign in to savethumb|upright=2|Stages in the origin of life process range from the well understood, such as the planetary habitability|habitable Earth and the abiotic synthesis of simple molecules, to the largely unknown, like the derivation of the [[last universal common ancestor (LUCA) with its complex molecular functionalities.]]
AI overview
Abiogenesis is the scientific study of how life originated on Earth from non-living chemical processes, progressing from simple molecules to the first living organisms. While scientists understand some early stages like how Earth became habitable and how basic molecules formed naturally, much remains unknown about how these chemicals eventually developed into the complex life forms we see today.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
44 sectionsContents
- Overview
- Pre-1960s conceptual history
- Spontaneous generation
- Panspermia
- "A warm little pond": primordial soup
- Miller–Urey experiment
- Producing a habitable Earth
- Evolutionary history
- Early universe with first stars
- Emergence of Earth
- Earliest evidence of life
- Producing molecules: prebiotic synthesis
- Observed extraterrestrial organic molecules
- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- Nucleobases and nucleotides
- Laboratory synthesis
- Sugars
- Nucleobases
- Peptides
- Producing protocells
- Producing biology
- Energy and entropy
- Chemiosmosis
- PAH world hypothesis
- The RNA world
- From RNA to directed protein synthesis
- Early functional peptides
- Phylogeny and LUCA
- Suitable geological environments
- Deep sea hydrothermal vents
- Hot fluids
- Chemiosmotic gradient
- Arguments against a vent setting
- Surface bodies of water
- Hot springs
- Temperate surface bodies of water
- Icy surface bodies of water
- Inside the continental crust
- Homochirality
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Sources
- External links
thumb|upright=2|Stages in the origin of life process range from the well understood, such as the planetary habitability|habitable Earth and the abiotic synthesis of simple molecules, to the largely unknown, like the derivation of the [[last universal common ancestor (LUCA) with its complex molecular functionalities.]]
Abiogenesis or the origin of life (sometimes called biopoesis) is the natural process by which life arises from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from non-living to living entities on Earth was not a single event, but a process of increasing complexity involving the formation of a habitable planet, the prebiotic synthesis of organic molecules, molecular self-replication, self-assembly, autocatalysis, and the emergence of cell membranes. The transition from non-life to life has not been observed experimentally, but many proposals have been made for different stages of the process.