How did life originate on Earth? What is the most logical answer?

For years scientists have been trying hard to find the answer to a question. How did the first life originate from inanimate matter? In this context, some say, in water, some say on land, some say nowhere on earth, we came from outer space.

The basic premise of evolution is the common ancestor, i.e. the origin of all organisms from a common ancestor. As you go back in time, life becomes simpler and simpler. So it can be said with certainty that the first life was very simple. So when exactly did we come to earth? To understand very simply, imagine that the earth is only one year old. If life began in January, then the first multicellular organisms appeared on August 16! That is, if the age of the earth is one year, then the first eight and a half months existed on earth only one-celled organisms! The first sexual reproduction took place on September 17.

And when did we come? December 31st at 11:30 am we hominids first learned to walk on two legs, at 11:56 am we became homo sapiens and modern man? That’s a count of microseconds! So think about how new we are in this world!

Before telling the story of the headache of scientists about the origin of the first life, let me remind you of an old fact that I read in science books as a child. Previously it was thought that bio-compounds were produced only in the animal body, and could only produce the vital force. But in 1828, Sir Frederick Hoyler accidentally produced urea from ammonium cyanite. That was the first synthetic organic compound! Scientists then realized that it was possible to create organic compounds without the vital force. Although Darwin had not yet published his breakthrough theory, Hoyler’s discovery was a huge milestone.

Since then, many scientists have puzzled over the origin of life. In 1924 and 1929, scientists Oparin and Haldane separately hypothesized that amino acids and then complex polymers are formed step by step from inorganic compounds. This process is called abiogenesis.
In 1952, Miller and Ureh performed their classic experiment based on Oparin and Haldane’s hypothesis. They try to simulate the environment that existed before life appeared on Earth. With water, hydrogen, methane and ammonia, they simulate the original state of the earth and produce more than 20 amino acids necessary for life found in nature! Then came the idea of primordial soup in hot ponds.

The resulting amino acids are still preserved at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science!
But the problem is that the more recent data is at odds with Ureh-Miller’s idea of an early Earth. Also, where to find the heat and electric sparks that they used in their experiments?
Then in 1977, scientists discovered a hydrothermal vent near the Galapagos Islands in Darwin. As a result of the eruption of hot lava at the bottom of the sea, various underground minerals react with the salt water of the sea at a temperature of about four hundred degrees Celsius and continuously create various organic compounds! Not only that, they were surprised to notice numerous unknown thermophilic organisms around the vent! Those who are walking around in this very hot environment at ease! This discovery opens a new door.

If we say very simply, the heat generated by the volcanic eruptions under the sea, the heat and the great pressure of the sea floor react with the salt water and a large amount of minerals in the ground to form bio-compounds, which is an ideal environment for the creation of life!

When we think of the ideal environment for life, the way we understand that sufficient oxygen, tolerable temperature, and sunlight are necessary, it is not at all. Life does not develop in a suitable environment, rather life adapts to the environment. Therefore, it is not impossible to find the existence of life in the rings of Saturn or on the planet Jupiter.
Next comes the very contemporary research. The progress that scientists have made recently is beyond imagination. Our biggest limitation is creating that early Earth environment in the lab. Many have tried and are doing so individually.

Chemist Laura Burge conducted an experiment. In creating that original environment, he mixed an acidic iron-containing solution with an alkaline solution, resulting in iron hydroxide and iron sulfide plumes. Thus, with the help of his team, he showed that it is possible to generate electrical energy in that environment under the sea!

Nick Lane, another researcher, has been able to produce formaldehyde and sugar in imitation of the early Earth through the Origin of Life Reactor.

The problem with the primoidal soup hypothesis was that abiosis, the bridge between inanimate and living things, was nowhere to be found. But hydrothermal vents are the only environment on Earth where life could have originated. A single vent is the only place on Earth where the energy source is not the Sun, with the Earth’s core providing all the energy.
In 2010, Craig Venter and his team created the first synthetic cells in the lab, which is a major milestone in the study of the origin of life! The cell he created is replicated countless times with synthetic DNA! But this organism was almost a clone of another bacterium.

A biophysicist in Germany, Petra Schuyle, has been trying to create synthetic cells for about ten years. Most recently, he made a synthetic cell from scratch! With just eight ingredients, two proteins, three buffering agents, two types of fat, and some chemical energy, he created a floating cell-like thing that bounces and divides on its own! This invention has given scientists a new hope! They dream of creating a synthetic cell in which to replace their hand-crafted genome. But the whole process is a huge challenge!

But if something is created that can only divide without growing, adapting to the environment and evolving, it cannot be called a living being. It still has to go a long way! But the matter is not so impossible as to find that sandstone. It’s like trying to get that exact taste of your mom’s fish soup as a kid, but can’t figure out the exact ingredients and proportions!