The conditions, timing, and setting for the origin of life on Earth and whether life exists
elsewhere in our solar system and beyond represent some of the most fundamental …

Despite thermodynamic, bioenergetic and phylogenetic failings, the 81‐year‐old concept of
primordial soup remains central to mainstream thinking on the origin of life. But soup is …

This article proposes that biologically plausible theories of behavior can be constructed by
following a method of “phylogenetic refinement,” whereby they are progressively elaborated …

We apply the theory of learning to physically renormalizable systems in an attempt to outline
a theory of biological evolution, including the origin of life, as multilevel learning. We …

Under enzyme catalysis, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) transfers a phosphoryl group to
canonical ribonucleotide diphosphates (NDPs) to form ribonucleotide triphosphates (NTPs) …

ATP is universally conserved as the principal energy currency in cells, driving metabolism
through phosphorylation and condensation reactions. Such deep conservation suggests that …

Hydrogen (H2) is a geological source of reducing electrons that is thought to have powered
the metabolism of the last universal common ancestor to all extant life, and that is still …

Several classes of biological reactions that are mediated by an enzyme and a co-factor can
occur, to a slower extent, not only without the enzyme but even without the co-factor, under …

This year marks the 50th anniversary of a proposal by Alex Rich that RNA, as a single
biopolymer acting in two capacities, might have supported both genetics and catalysis at the …

Critical to the origin of life are the ingredients of life, of course, but also the physical and
chemical conditions in which prebiotic chemical reactions can take place. These factors …