Revealing the Origins of Life
How did molecules first make the leap from non-living to living? An English chemist may have solved part of the mystery.
Where did the very first living thing on Earth come from? Scientists have long argued that billions of years ago, life emerged on its own—but no one knows exactly how. Now, in a landmark discovery, chemist John Sutherland has created the conditions in which the building blocks of RNA, one of the key molecules of life and the probable precursor to DNA, assemble themselves naturally.