Discover the different hypotheses about the Origin of life. Keep reading so you can learn with us more about the variety of theories and hypotheses about this very interesting topic for humanity, which leaves great questions regarding the origin of life and its beginnings.
Thoughts on the origin of life
For human beings it is essential to obtain information about the origin or the beginning of everything that generates curiosity. It is almost essential to know the why of all things. What is the origin of life? It is one of the questions that man over time has tried to explain by reasoning about it, in order to explain the real origin of life.
What really has been a bit uphill. Many theories have been raised then, both at a scientific, historical, biological and even religious level. They intend to answer this question. How life arises is a fact that we want to discover.
Throughout our passage through the world on different occasions, several conjectures were raised that today are recognized by science to provide and generate answers to our great question. Life on earth developed through the process of evolution, this is not a process that took place at a certain time and then stopped, living organisms continue to adapt to their environment today.
Background on the origin of life
Life on earth developed on two aspects: The chemical and biological element. From inorganic materials, the first moment in the development of life was the production of a reproductive cell, a process that is called chemical evolution. During the nineteenth century there are advances that allow the beginning and development of biochemistry. For this century a well-known theory arises, under the authorship of Charles Darwin, founder of modern evolutionary theory.
Who in the year 1859 published on the origin of species through natural selection. His theory is considered one of the most influential in history, and perhaps one of the best-known books ever written. Although he received much criticism from the theologians of the time.
Darwin thought that changes in organisms occurred little by little, that these in turn accumulated with each generation until that accumulation produced the spectacular changes that we see today in fossils.
One study that led him to that conclusion was that of the Galápagos Island finches, where closely related birds from different islands had developed completely different characteristics in response to their different environments.
Once a living, reproducing system became present, the process of natural selection set about producing the wide variety of life that exists today. When we refer to the origin of life, we are not only talking about the life of the human being. We also refer to everything that inhabits the planet that breathes and has life.
Plants, animals, microorganisms, among other organisms that make life in the immensity of the earth.
chemical evolution
In 1955, Harold Urey of the University of Chicago set out to carry out an experiment whose main objective was to demonstrate the first step towards chemical evolution. The experiment is based on the mixture of methane, ammonia, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, material that today is believed to have been the components of the primitive atmosphere.
This mixture was subjected to electrical sparks, in a matter of hours they observed that the constituents of the primitive earth formed molecules known as amino acids that represent the building blocks of proteins. Proteins are the molecules that do most of the chemical work in living systems.
For its part, it is taken into account that ultraviolet radiation can produce amino acids from the same materials. The ocean had a high concentration of amino acids as it now has salt, this approximately a hundred million years ago. From this hypothesis it is believed that the first living cells developed.
Another theory is based on the fact that amino acids are very common in the universe, they can even be seen in giant clouds, in asteroids that fall to earth from space.
According to this hypothesis of the origin of life, amino acids could have been attracted by meteorites. Although we do not know when the first cell developed, it is taken into account that it was very fast.
fossil record
We know about the evolution of life by reading the fossil record. When a plant or animal dies, it is likely to be buried, groundwater flows around the remains and gradually the minerals in the water replace the atoms of the buried organism. The final result, after millions of years, is an exact replica in stone of the buried parts.
However, the record is imperfect, because not all plants or animals that are buried make it into the fossil record. But despite this, the fossil record represents our last resort when we want to learn about how life developed on our planet.
It wasn't until about 590 million years ago that living things began to develop skeletons and hard parts, those parts are much more likely to become fossils.
In this way, man has been able to study the past of life, and get closer to obtaining a vision of its origin, trying to obtain numerical data of its beginning, and trying to understand the conditions in which it arose.
The first cells to leave a mark were cyanophyceae algae which lived near the edge of the ocean. Their accumulations left traces in mud that later became rocks, those rocks can be seen today in some places on the earth's surface.
We may carry the imprint of the first cell in our bodies. The DNA in our bodies, and in all living organisms, is spiral-shaped. One particularly intriguing fact is that the first cell, when it developed, incorporated a rightward-facing DNA into its structure.
Salient features of evolution
Complex life began in the ocean, just as the first cell probably developed in the ocean. Things like algae, clams, corals, among others, for millions of years were in the sea, while the mainland was still deserted. Plants were the first to move to dry land, followed by animals such as scorpions. These developed very well and reproduced quickly.
The most complex form of life on the planet were fish, the first vertebrates on earth. Sharks and huge armored fish, now extinct, ruled the oceans. The age of reptiles began about 248 million years ago, according to earth dimensionswith the appearance of the dinosaurs. Very familiar period for humanity.
These were a very diverse family, and not all of them were mostly characterized by having a large size. The dinosaurs dominated the land, as well as the sea, the ancestors of today's mammals were characterized by having a size similar to small mice, which began a precarious existence. The extinction of the dinosaurs cleared the way for mammals, and from that time forward, they have been the dominant life form on earth.
creationism and evolution
Having previously mentioned the different theories of the origin of life, it is necessary to comment on creationism, a form of hypothesis that we cannot exclude in this list of conjectures about the origin of life. Based on a religious ideal, creationism represents the doctrine according to which the earth was created a few million years ago from a divine act.
Creationism means science of creation, its origin is from the book of Genesis, which states that all living organisms were created in their current form, and that in turn no changes have been made since the creation itself.
Creation then starts from the description of Genesis chapter 1. Based on this approach, the world was created in 7 days, from light, day and night, the separation of ocean waters, plants and their fruits, animals, you have created man.
This is then, a hypothesis about the origin of life, according to the creationist theory. This type of conjecture is associated with conservative type Christian churches, with the main support of theology.
The beginning of life on other planets
The improbability or the accumulation of so many theories generated by science has led man to think that life really came to our planet from somewhere else. This idea arose in the XNUMXth century when the hypothesis that life was carried from one star system to another via a type of spore. Idea that over time has been discredited and unreasonable, because the conditions do not match the theory.
Importance
Life on earth is a mystery that even today, being modern times, science offers us the study of millions of topics, including the origin of life, it is not enough, since the human being has few answers about this subject that generates great intrigue and curiosity.
It is really important and enriching to understand how and when, on our planet, the first cell was developed, which gave way to life itself. Thanks to the studies carried out previously, we have managed to obtain only a few answers to this great question.
The evolution of life, and its origin is a really complex fact, and yet the studies will continue, since man is in a constant and incessant search for new theories that lead him to understand the truth from which we emerged. Thanks to the Science features, today we have multiple information about the most relevant data on the origin of life.
Without a doubt, man does not draw limits to get to know the unknown. We will continue in that search for why, how, and where life originated. Fact that is truly important for the full knowledge of the origin of life on the planet.
Although the studies carried out in past centuries offer man an indication of the beginning of life, these studies have prepared the human mind to investigate and search further, since what is really known does not convince or satisfy the mind of man in a great way, and for this reason scientific research will continue.
The origin of life is a very fascinating, enriching, and interesting topic, today there is a great diversity of life on the face of the earth, the number of species that inhabit our world is countless, however, the human being only gets to know a 2 of the great biodiversity that accompanies us.
More and more science and studies advance and with them, our curiosity, we have studied everything that surrounds us, seas, oceans, and the life that is in them, animals, from small insects to large mammals.
New discoveries make life on our planet Earth more and more interesting and attractive. The really important thing is to study without damaging, visit and preserve, know and share knowledge. Learning will always be the goal, and according to the conditions existing on this earthly plane, and the life that arises every day, we will not stop studying. The search will continue, and in the midst of it, we will discover new horizons.