If you bring to a table the hypotheses of the origin of life on Earth, invented at different times, A4 sheet is not enough for it, so many different options and theories have been developed by people since ancient times. The three main and largest groups of assumptions are communication with the divine essence, natural evolution, and cosmic population. Each option has followers and opponents, but the main scientific option is the theory of biochemistry. Consider different systems and ideas about how organic life was born on our planet.
It is itself!
One of the options for explaining the origin and development of life on Earth is spontaneous generation. For the first time such ideas were born a very, very long time ago. According to scientists, the start of everything was inanimate matter, and it was from it that organic matter appeared. Numerous experiments were organized, the task of which was either to confirm the correctness of the assumption, or to refute it. At one time, Pasteur was given a prize for experiments with boiling broth in a flask, since they allowed to prove that life comes only from living things. But this did not answer the question of where did the very organisms that started the process come from.
External forces
For a long time there have been in society ideas about the origin of life on Earth, explaining everything with divine intervention. Presumably, all living things on the planet appeared at once, but this happened because some higher being expressed its will and activated its unique power. This creature must have incredible strength, abilities incomprehensible to humans. Who created life, opinions differ. Some call the creator the Absolute, others - the supreme deity, a kind of great mind.
This explanation was first invented in ancient times. World religions are based on this assumption. At the moment, it has not been possible to refute the assumption, since there is no unambiguous scientific answer to explain all those processes, phenomena that are observed on our planet.
Panspermia and Stationarity
One of the options that gives an idea of ​​what the origin of human life on Earth is, how other types and forms of organic life appeared, it is supposed to consider the cosmos as a kind of permanent, stable object. Eternity becomes a permanent state, and life is only inside it. She is able to move between different planets. Presumably, travels are realized through meteorites. True, astrophysicists have proven that the universe has formed 16 billion years, and the cause of this was the primary explosion. Such scientific calculations contradict the theory of panspermia, which does not prevent a number of followers from upholding their case.
Biochemistry
In short, the hypothesis of the origin of life on Earth related to the specifics of biochemical processes is dominant in the scientific world today. It was first formulated by the famous biochemist Oparin. Based on his work, life forms appeared due to the evolution of chemical interactions. Such reactions are the basis of organic life. Probably, the cosmic body (our planet) first formed, then the atmosphere. The next step in evolution was organic synthesis, reactions, the results of which were indispensable for our life substances. Millions, billions of years have gone into the evolution of species and the formation of the diversity of life that can be observed at present.
The correctness of this theory is confirmed by a number of scientific experiments. Although it is currently considered the main one, there are a number of opponents who disagree with the explanation.
Darwin: The Beginning
For the first time, the landmark work of this scientist, who forever inscribed himself in the history of the science of our civilization, was published in the 1860th. It was then that an edition appeared on the shelves of bookstores that examined the scientific theory of the origin of life on Earth. Nowadays, any educated person has heard about Darwin’s ideas. As this outstanding scientist believed, man is a product of evolution, the result of severe natural selection. Presumably, our species came from monkeys, and the conditions of existence and nuances of development, random features and the environment allowed the mind to be born. Whether Darwin was right or wrong, opinions to this day disagree. Many are convinced that the evidence of the theory is inconclusive, so taking it into account is unreasonable.
Experiments and theories: there are strange
If you reduce all the known theories of the origin of life on Earth to a table, the individual lines in it will surely cause a smile or considerable surprise in an educated person. For example, in the seventeenth century, the scientist Helmont reported that he was able to create the mouse anew and it took him only three weeks. To succeed, I had to take wheat, a dirty shirt, and the experiment was carried out in a dark cabinet. According to Helmont's theory, human sweat, which is the main driving force of life, has become a key success factor. According to this scientist of the seventeenth century, due to sweat, the inanimate is reborn into the living. Developing his theory, the researcher considered that the source of the frogs was a swamp, and worms appeared from the soil. True, it was not possible to find out what became the foundation of the appearance of man.
In 1865, for the first time, they briefly voiced the theory of the origin of life on Earth, proposing to seek an explanation in outer space. The author was a scientist from Germany - Richter. According to his assumption, living cells on our planet penetrated with meteorites and dust from outer space. One of the factors that suggest that this hypothesis has a grain of truth is the increased resistance of a number of organisms to radiation and low temperatures. However, there are no real facts that could constitute a worthy evidence base.
Sick and healthy, true and false
As you can learn from world history, they talked and argued about the origin of life on Earth, discussed a lot, and experimented no less. In 1973, a new theory saw the light, sponsored by Orgel, Creek. They suggested that organic life on the planet is the result of intentional infection. Scientists believed that drones adapted for space flights were sent to Earth, and it was with them that the cells penetrated. Probably, all this was organized by a certain alien highly developed civilization, which was in danger of catastrophe, possibly complete destruction due to an insurmountable factor. The people who inhabit our planet today, according to Creek and Orgel, are distant descendants of that alien civilization.
Since the development of ideas about the origin of life on Earth was of a multi-stage nature, the most amazing assumptions were born in different periods of the progress of the social, natural sciences. For example, some are convinced that there is nothing real around, and in fact the universe is just a matrix. If you follow this assumption, people actually do not have bodies. These are some kind of entity that, due to being in the matrix, only develop skills.
Water and air
An amazing look at the origin of life on Earth was with Hardy, a specialist in biology. As a foundation for his reasoning, he used the calculations of Darwin. Hardy suggested that the ancestor of man is a hydropithecus monkey living in water.
No less strange to many scientists is the idea that suggests that bats existed on the planet earlier, and it is from them that the human race leads. Artifacts of the Sumerian civilization that have survived to this day are cited as evidence of this theory. Since then, many images of strange bats have been preserved. Basically, they can be seen on seals.
Another curious theory suggests that man was originally created by the gods, and the first individuals had signs of both sexes. To this day, this idea of ​​the origin and initial stages of life on Earth has come down thanks to the myths of ancient Greece. You can learn from them that the divine essences created man, and you can read the description of this first species in the Platonic "Feast". The body of each individual was spherical, with four arms and legs, and a pair of identical faces was present on the head. The creatures turned out to be proud and power-hungry, tried to take the position of the gods, for which they were ordered by separation. According to legend, Zeus cut each in half, and since then to this day, every person lives in search of his soulmate.
Geno-holobiosis
Genobiosis - this is an option for explaining the origin of life, the basis of which is considered to be the primacy of the molecules in which the genetic code is recorded. Holobiosis is a term used to denote the idea of ​​the primacy of structures capable of metabolism through enzymes. These two approaches differ primarily in assessing the primacy of a factor. Both are considered scientific and deserve some attention.
Oparin's Ideas
This scientific origin of life on Earth is also associated with the name of the prominent scientist Haldane. Back in the 24th, Oparin, then still not an academician, published an article in which he considered the features of the formation of organic life. In the 38th, the material was translated into English, and it immediately aroused public interest. Oparin thought that when using concentrated liquid with high molecular weight compounds, it is possible to obtain zones of especially high concentration, which form spontaneously. Such sites stand out from the general environment and can enter into chemical and energy metabolism with it. It was decided to call such formations coacervates.
Oparin suggested that the emergence of organic life occurred in stages. First organic compounds appeared, the next step was the formation of protein molecules, and the final step was considered protein bodies. In many respects, this theory is based on earlier studies of cosmic bodies. The work of astronomers show that planetary systems, stars are formed by gas and dust matter, in which there are metals, oxides, ammonia, methane, water, hydrogen. When the primary ocean appeared on our planet, along with it created the conditions in which organic life could appear. Hydrocarbons in liquids could enter into chemical interactions, including complex structured reactions and transformations. Gradually, the molecules became more complex, which led to the formation of carbohydrates.
Step by step - to the truth
Developing his theory about the origin of life on Earth, Oparin was able to prove that ultraviolet radiation is a sufficient condition for the formation of amino acids and a number of other biochemical compounds important for organic life. It was possible to achieve a reaction under artificial conditions. In order for protein bodies to form, coacervates had to appear. It is known that under specific conditions, the water shell can be clearly defined, fencing off the molecule from the environment in which it is located. Molecules having such a shell could interact, uniting, and this became the mechanism for the appearance of multimolecular structures called coacervates. As further studies have shown, simple mixing of polymers also allows one to obtain such formations. Polymer molecules independently assembled into complex structural formations that could be seen through a microscope.
According to theoretical biology, the origin of life on Earth has become possible, since coacervates are able to take matter from the environment. This type was called open systems. A catalyst can be included in a drop of coacervate (enzymes belong to this category), and this initiates a number of biochemical reactions. Among other variety, polymerization of monomers taken from the surrounding space is available. Drops are able to grow, add weight, break up. Coacervates, as shown by studies, are able to grow and multiply, they are available metabolic processes. Evolution was realized through natural selection.
Continuing research
In biology, the hypotheses of the origin of life on Earth were tested in 53rd, when Miller took up the experiments. A mixture of four molecules was created, which was placed in a confined space and began to process with electric current. As an analysis of the results showed, amino acids are formed with the participation of such a catalyst. The continuation of a series of experiments made it possible to obtain reactions, the results of which were nucleotides, sugars. This allowed scientists to authoritatively conclude that evolution is possible if coacervates exist, but independent reproduction of the system is not inherent.
Although the hypothesis of the origin of life on Earth received official justification, there were still some ambiguities. At first, scientists simply turned a blind eye to them. It was known that a successful molecular protein structure may appear in the coacervate, moreover, the process does not have a clear system and proceeds by chance. Thus, for example, effective catalysts could be formed, due to which a particular coacervate could actively grow and multiply. At the same time, it was not possible to explain how such catalysts can be copied so that the next generation of coacervates could also use them. There was no explanation for the exact reproduction of single protein structures that turned out to be particularly effective.
Science and life
Although Oparin’s idea became the main hypothesis of the origin of life on Earth, it cannot be recognized that it, especially at first, lacked ambiguities. At the same time, scientists have conclusively established that it is possible to spontaneously form highly concentrated drops based on fatty compounds that appear in an abiogenic way. At the same time, the possibility of a reaction with the so-called living solutions, that is, RNA molecules capable of reproducing themselves, appeared. Among them are ribozymes, under the influence of which fat synthesis is activated. Such a molecular community can rightfully be considered a living organism.
The origin of life on Earth in modern science is based on Oparin's theory, from which it follows that the original structures were protein, while at the same time a more progressive version of the hypothesis dominates in the minds of scientists. His base was the study of ribozymes, that is, those molecules that are characterized by enzymatic activity. These structures can simultaneously carry protein functionality and DNA, they store genetic information and activate biochemical reactions. Scientists have suggested that RNA first appeared, in which there were no protein components, DNA. It was then that the autocatalytic cycle first appeared, the existence of which is explained by ribozymes that catalyze the copying of themselves.
Spontaneous generation and event versions
If we return to the long-formed concepts of the origin of life on Earth, it is necessary to mention the ideas that dominated among the Babylonians, Chinese and Egyptians. The theories that appeared in those ancient societies were inherently close to creationism, although they had a number of differences. Aristotle assured that there are particles in which there is an active principle. From it, if you comply with suitable external conditions, something living may appear. It is somewhat difficult to challenge his calculations. For example, Aristotle was convinced that a fertilized egg contains such an active principle. On the other hand, the ancient scientist believed that it exists in decaying meat and in the rays of sunlight - and this is already far from the truth.
If we evaluate the history of the development of hypotheses briefly, the origin of life on Earth as a scientific topic will have to be recognized for a long time as practically forbidden. This was due to the spread of Christianity as a dominant worldview. The sacred books of that period gave a detailed description of the appearance of life from the point of view of religion, and the idea of ​​spontaneous generation went into the shadows, although it was not completely rejected. In 1688, Redi, a biologist from Italy, set up an interesting experiment on such a hypothesis. It seemed doubtful to him that a spontaneous birth of life from anything is possible.So, examining the decaying meat, he found that the worms in it are fly larvae. Further study of the living showed that life is formed from another life. This has been called biogenesis.
In search of truth
Although Redi’s experiments seemed to give certain ideas about the impossibility of the spontaneous spontaneous origin of life on Earth, such a theory in itself still attracted the inquiring minds of its time. Levenguk began his first research using a microscope. A study of microscopic life forms suggested that spontaneous generation is still possible. At the same time, Levenguk refrained from debating between adherents of different options, only conducting experiments of interest to him and reporting to the scientific community on their results. Nevertheless, each new piece of information became food for heated discussions.
New steps in this direction became possible thanks to the research of Pasteur. Trying to determine the features of the origin of life on Earth, the scientist conducted experiments with aquatic environments and found that bacteria exist almost everywhere and everywhere. Even in a non-living environment, such life forms may appear if a thorough sterilization is not previously carried out. A variety of media was boiled, in which microorganisms could appear, and, as the study showed, under certain conditions, all spores died. If, at the same time, it was possible to ensure the conditions of non-entry of bacteria from outside, life did not begin. For his experiments, Pasteur invented a special glass installation. His work turned out to be the evidence base thanks to which the idea of ​​spontaneous generation of living finally receded, and the theory of biogenesis replaced it.
Evolution theory
Until recently, evolution explaining the origin of life on Earth was the main theory accepted in the scientific community. It is based on the work of representatives of the Darwin family. Erasmus, a doctor and naturalist by profession, who proposed evolution in 1790 as the main theory of the development of life, and his grandson Charles, whose name is known to every educated inhabitant of the planet, made a significant contribution. The naturalist lived in the nineteenth century and drew attention to his person by systematizing significant information about the features of the existence of living things.
Evolutionary theory was not invented from scratch. By the time of the life of a famous scientist, many considered Kant's ideas about cosmology as well as his ideas about time, infinity, and mechanical laws that dominate our world to be correct. A description of these laws has already been made by Newton. Lyell confirmed the idea of ​​uniformism, which was born in the 18th century, from which it followed that the Earth took millions of years to form, this happened gradually and slowly, and some processes continue to this day. A three-volume combination was published on the geological foundations. It first began to be published in the 1830th, to the 33rd all three volumes were released.
Darwin: Science
Considering the origin of life on Earth, the scientist decided that the evolution of organic life is due to the mutual influence of natural selection, genetics and variability on each other. All three factors contribute, and as a result, organisms receive unique features that allow them to adapt to life in this world. Thus, new species are formed. To justify the position, it was enough to mention the presence of vestigial organs, as well as the theory of recapitulation of the embryo. In total, the scientist has compiled a list of 180 rudiments inherent in man. This is the name of organs that, as individuals develop, ceased to be significant, they can be removed. However, gradually, scientists involved in rudiments revealed a new functionality of different parts of the body, discovering that a person has no unnecessary parts in principle. For a long time, it was believed that the classic rudiment is the appendix, but today it is known that it largely determines the strength of immunity, and research continues to establish its significance for health.
Darwin's theory of the origin of life on Earth appealed to the idea of ​​recapitulation of the embryo, but even in the foreseeable future it was dispelled. Haeckel first proposed this idea in 1868. The main tenet was the similarity of the canine, human four-week embryos. As studies of that time showed, a human embryo has an embryo of the tail and gill slits. But the continuation of research made it clear that Haeckel forged images, for which he was recognized as a scientific fraud. However, the theory became untenable. However, in Soviet textbooks, right up to the very end of the existence of the power, one could see illustrations showing that the theory of recapitulation is correct. But in the rest of the world, the scientific community has long rejected such ideas.
Bioenergy information exchange
Although many theories have appeared long ago, and over time, the work of scientists is reduced to proving their failure, there are also such assumptions and hypotheses that have arisen recently. Of course, this is not the cosmic origin of life on Earth, but more complex concepts. One example is bioenergy information exchange. For the first time such a term was proposed by biophysicists, bioenergetics and ecologists. Volchenko is considered the author of the phrase, in the 89th he made a report to the audience as part of a specialized all-Union conference. The event took place in the metropolitan area. Bioenergy information exchange turned out to be a rather interesting field of research, scientists have suggested that the universe is a single information space. It was suggested that there is a certain substrate, which at the same time represents information and consciousness. This substance is the third form along with matter, energy.
According to the theory of bioenergy information exchange, there is a certain universal plan. As part of the confirmation, the calculations of astrophysicists are shown, who have proved that there are patterns between the universal structure, the possibility of organic life and the fundamental features of the world. In addition, all this is closely related to the constants, forms and patterns identified by astrophysicists. According to the idea of ​​bioenergy information exchange, the universe is a living system in which consciousness is one of the most important factors.
To summarize
Scientists will probably find out exactly and in detail in the near future about where organic life came from and how our planet appeared. Much will depend on how science goes. Considerable resources are invested in biological, physical, astrophysical studies, especially intellectual and temporary, therefore, some progress has been noted recently. At the same time, it cannot be said that scientists will literally tomorrow give a final answer to a question that has been exciting human minds for millennia.