how was the first living organism formed?
In: Biology
There’s growing knowledge that basic molecular precursors to things like RNA actually can form from cosmic processes and exist in large quantities in interstellar molecular clouds. When such a cloud then experiences local gravitational collapse and forms a new star and planetary system, that system is seeded with an abundance of these key precursor molecules. What happens next is not understood, but the general theory is that you need a bunch of stable heat sources in a suitable solvent for millions of years for abiogenesis to occur. On Earth, the most likely known candidate for that is geothermal vents in the ocean. Liquid water is arguably the best solvent for the kinds of chemical reactions needed to assemble organic matter.
There’s also a much bolder theory floating around that simple life may have first evolved shortly after the Big Bang. There was a period where the entire universe was filled with a bright orange glow and the general temperature was about 70 degrees F in space. That may have only lasted for a few 10s of millions of years, but with the entire universe in that state it could’ve created ample opportunity for basic microorganisms or their precursors to evolve in a space environment extremely different from what exists today. However, as far as I know there’s no known evidence of this. It’s just an outlandish but compelling concept that’s come up recently.
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