Adine Jeminah D.

Limon
STEM 12- ST. HUBERT

General Biology: The Origin of Life on Earth

1) When did life begin?

The origin of life on Earth is a scientific problem which is not yet solved. There are
many ideas, but few clear facts.

Most experts agree that all life today evolved by common descent from a single primitive
lifeform. It is not known how this early form first lived, but scientists think it was a
natural process which happened about 3,900 million years ago. This is in accord with
the philosophy of naturalism: only natural causes are admitted.

It is not known if metabolism came first or genetics. The main hypothesis which supports

genetics first is the RNA world hypothesis, and the one which supports metabolism first is
the protein world hypothesis.

Another big problem is how cells developed. All existing life is groups of cells.

Well , life is old. The dinosaurs are perhaps the most famous extinct creatures, and they had their
beginnings 250 million years ago. But life dates back much further.

The oldest known fossils are around 3.5 billion years old, 14 times the age of the oldest
dinosaurs. But the fossil record may stretch back still further. For instance, in August 2016
researchers found what appear to be fossilised microbes dating back 3.7 billion years.

Since the 19th Century, biologists have known that all living things are made of "cells":
tiny bags of living matter that come in different shapes and sizes. Cells were first discovered in
the 17th Century, when the first modern microscopes were invented, but it took well over a
century for anyone to realise that they were the basis of all life.

We might not think we look much like a catfish or a Tyrannosaurus rex, but a microscope
will reveal that we are all made of pretty similar kinds of cells. So are plants and fungi.

But by far the most numerous forms of life are microorganisms, each of which is made up
of just one cell. Bacteria are the most famous group, and they are found everywhere on Earth.

2) Give atleast 3 evidences or Theory of Life.

How did life begin? There can hardly be a bigger question. For much of human history,
almost everyone believed some version of "the gods did it". Any other explanation was
inconceivable. Today, many of the scientists studying the origin of life are confident that they are
on the right track – and they have the experiments to back up their confidence.
a) According to a report, life started with what we call “Panspermia”. Perhaps life did not begin
on Earth at all, but was brought here from elsewhere in space, a notion known as panspermia.
For instance, rocks regularly get blasted off Mars by cosmic impacts, and a number of Martian
meteorites have been found on Earth that some researchers have controversially suggested
brought microbes over here, potentially making us all Martians originally. Other scientists have
even suggested that life might have hitchhiked on comets from other star systems. However,
even if this concept were true, the question of how life began on Earth would then only change
to how life began elsewhere in space. Oh, and if you thought all that was mysterious, consider
this: Scientists admit they don’t even have a good definition of life!

b) Because of cold temperature from different places, it was believed by some that life had a
chilly start. Ice might have covered the oceans 3 billion years ago, as the sun was about a third
less luminous than it is now, scientists say. This layer of ice, possibly hundreds of feet thick,
might have protected fragile organic compounds in the water below from ultraviolet light and
destruction from cosmic impacts. The cold might have also helped these molecules to survive
longer, allowing key reactions to happen. 

c) Darwin's theory, set out in On the Origin of Species in 1859, explained how the vast diversity of
life could all have arisen from a single common ancestor. Instead of each of the different species
being created individually by God, they were all descended from a primordial organism that lived
millions of years ago: the last universal common ancestor.

It also states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of
small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive,
and reproduce.