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How Life Came To Be
How Life Came To Be
*The building blocks could have combined *The polymers could have assembled in
in further reactions, forming larger, more units or structures that were capable of
complex molecules (polymers) like sustaining and replicating themselves.
proteins and nucleic acids, perhaps in Oparin thought these might have been
pools at the water's edge. “colonies” of proteins clustered togethe
carry out metabolism, while Haldane
suggested that macromolecules becam
enclosed in membranes to make cell-li
structures
The details of this model are probably not
quite correct. For instance, geologists now
think the early atmosphere was not
reducing, and it's unclear whether pools at
the edge of the ocean are a likely site for
life's first appearance. But the basic idea –
a stepwise, spontaneous formation of
simple, then more complex, then
selfsustaining biological molecules or
assemblies – is still at the core of most
originsof-life hypotheses today (Khan
Academy, n.d.)
Urey-Miller Hypothesis
In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey
did an experiment to test Oparin and
Haldane’s ideas. They found that organic
molecules could be spontaneously
produced under reducing conditions
thought to resemble those of early Earth.