Small warm ponds: Ideal incubators for first life?
by Mary Caperton Morton
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
If a meteorite bearing nucleotides happened to splash down into a small, warm pond early in Earth's history, the nucleotides could have been in an ideal environment in which to link together into RNA. Credit: Callan Bentley, 2017.
The first embers of life are thought to have emerged on Earth between 4.5 billion and 3.7 billion years ago, but how and where the initial sparks arose remains a mystery. Two leading theories suggest that the first self-replicating molecules — a necessity for life — may have gotten a start either in deep-ocean hydrothermal vents or in small warm ponds on land. In a new study, researchers suggest that the wet-dry cycles occurring in small, seasonal ponds would have made a better natural incubator.