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We May Have Just Unlocked a Secret to How Life Started on Earth
Articles . Blog

We May Have Just Unlocked a Secret to How Life Started on Earth

On August 20, 2019 by Raul Dinwiddie


This one’s real easy, you guys–super low
key, not really a big deal, it’s just this silly question that nobody’s really interested
in, it’s just like….how did life begin? Ok, obviously I’m joking. This is one of the biggest unanswered questions
in science today, and is the backbone of our burning questions about who we are, where
we come from, and if we’re alone out here. New research has now given us clues into how
exactly the fundamental molecular building blocks of life came together in the first
place. Because that’s the central question: in
the big puddly soup of pre-biotic earth–as in, earth before living organisms–how did
the perfect ingredients for life form, much less fuse together into something that stores
information and can replicate independently. A primer on how our living cell’s work:
A cell’s most important components are DNA, RNA and a ribosome. DNA codes for all of the essential information
about what the organism is and how it works, but it’s kept all safe and huddled away
in the nucleus. To take that information and make it into
actual stuff, like proteins, an enzyme called RNA polymerase copies sections of the DNA
and makes strands of RNA, which are a like one-sided version of DNA. These messenger RNA strands get sent to the
cell’s ribosome, where they’re converted into the proteins our cells need for survival. When scientists were first discovering all
this complex stuff, it became an even bigger question of how all this could have spontaneously
come together as a result of organic chemistry. To tackle this problem, some scientists suggested
that perhaps life as we know it now didn’t all spontaneously form at once exactly as
it is, it was probably a little simpler…maybe it was only RNA-based! This hypothetical situation is what we refer
to as the RNA world. But this track of thinking is based on the
idea that the self-replicating aspect of life is what formed first. And not everyone agrees. Some people think that metabolization, or
the ability to extract energy from your environment, must have come first, while a third camp thinks
that compartmentalisation must have come first, a primitive version of the different internal
pieces of a cell. These divisions in the scientific community
still survive, but as we’ve come to learn more about RNA and how it can behave, it’s
become clearer that it’s an essential part of the beginning of life, if not the first
thing that formed. This is because RNA can do a really exciting
thing. Not only can it contain information that it
can then replicate…but it can also fold itself up into shapes in which it can act
as an catalyst, influencing chemical reactions! When this was discovered, we realized it was
much more likely that RNA-based life could indeed have survived and replicated all on
its own…without the all the fancy add-ons we have today. So then we come down to the question again–how
did RNA form in the first place? Scientists have been on a quest to demonstrate
how all of RNA’s component parts could have spontaneously assembled, and new research
may just bring it all together. RNA is made up of the nucleic acids cytosine,
uracil, adenine, and guanine. A research team had shown a few years ago
that a set of five simple compounds could have given rise to cytosine and uracil with
nothing more than the addition of UV light, which there was plenty of on a primitive earth. A different team then showed a similarly easy
and plausible process for the formation of adenine and guanine from simple building block
elements. But no one had demonstrated that these two
separate reactions, producing all four RNA nucleic acids, could have occurred in the
same place at the same time…until now. A paper that came out in 2018 showed that
a simple set of molecules–oxygen, nitrogen, methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen cyanide,
all of which would have been present on an early version of earth–could react to form
what we recognize as the uracil, adenine, guanine and cytosine. This work is the first experimental evidence
showing that the chemistry fits–these building blocks could have feasibly all come together
at the same time, in the same place, we saw it happen before our very eyes. There are still a couple of missing pieces
that we haven’t been able to recreate in the lab. For instance, how did each of the building
blocks come together to link them into the long chains that take them from nucleic acids
to actual RNA? And, keep in mind, while the RNA world is
the leading theory, there is some contention among scientists about the first inklings
of life on earth. Hopefully work like this will add to that
discussion, PLUS it does represent an unprecedented step forward in answering the most fundamental
of questions: how life began. For more on DNA and the craziness of life,
check out another video of mine here. Don’t forget to subscribe to Seeker for
all your genetic information questions, and thanks so much for watching

Tags: and, awe, building blocks, chemicals, compartmentalized, conditions, curiosity, current events, discovery, discovery news, discovery video, DNA, dnews channel, earth, education, elements, explain, explainer, groundbreaking, host, how did life begin, innovative, inspiration, Learn, metabolization, molecules, news, nucleotides, origin of life, recipes, requirements, RNA, RNA world, science, science news, science videos, seeker, seeker daily, seeker network, seeker stories, teach, testtube, that, the
Written by Raul Dinwiddie

100 comments

  • Comment by Seeker February 19, 2019 at 4:16 pm - Reply

    Hi everyone! You may have noticed this episode looks familiar and that’s because it is, indeed, a re-upload. With the help of your smart eyes, we were able to fix a minor error we had in the previous version when illustrating the transcription process, but don’t fret, it’s all good now. If you’re interested in knowing more about how RNA is made, and then synthesized into proteins, check out this link below! https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/ribosomes-transcription-and-translation-14120660

  • Comment by Obsidian Sirius Blackheart February 21, 2019 at 12:39 am - Reply

    Life started when the Old Ones dropped the God Emperor on Earth

  • Comment by Cchase February 21, 2019 at 1:00 am - Reply

    I believe God made the earth and I stick with that

  • Comment by Pahniagotcha February 21, 2019 at 1:23 am - Reply

    tell me why she look like miranda cosgrove

  • Comment by Mason Stone February 21, 2019 at 1:31 am - Reply

    Started as apes, genetically modified by extraterrestrial beings + eating Psilocybin mushrooms and that’s how our cancerous species was born 👍🏻

  • Comment by Ledfndr February 21, 2019 at 2:01 am - Reply

    I love Maren, she's the nice smart Jewish girl my Mom is always telling me to find lololol Mom never said she had to notice me back!

  • Comment by Find D Time February 21, 2019 at 2:04 am - Reply

    Someone explain where all water for the oceans came from?

  • Comment by ͤ ͤ ͤ February 21, 2019 at 2:36 am - Reply

    New world unlocked!

  • Comment by spdboat33 February 21, 2019 at 2:36 am - Reply

    Enter, religious nutjobs….

  • Comment by Seán McGuinness February 21, 2019 at 2:46 am - Reply

    SEVERAL CHRISTIANS ARE TYPING.

  • Comment by Lightening3034 February 21, 2019 at 3:32 am - Reply

    Here's a censored summary that's safe for religious ears:
    scientists believe life was started by a chemical called riboGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODid

  • Comment by peter291997 February 21, 2019 at 3:48 am - Reply

    the big cloud man did it

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi February 21, 2019 at 4:16 am - Reply

    You are musical i like that the mix of music and science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h70wnnmMBT4&fbclid=IwAR3Qmic8bAGXtKcKhsdc6qrqDMbc45ToD9rfrSQmkHjh4qOo7Iyn4X-Bqw4

  • Comment by Dominick McGee February 21, 2019 at 4:18 am - Reply

    You wanna know where we came from? Well here you go God. Congratulations you now know more that most scientists. Hurray

  • Comment by The Legend Of Mistch February 21, 2019 at 4:21 am - Reply

    Y'all need some Jesus rip to your ass

  • Comment by Leon Jee February 21, 2019 at 4:58 am - Reply

    Stfu version: You came from animal that ate another animal that took alot of shit, shit mingled with crap on the ground and POOF= LIFE

  • Comment by Boyd R February 21, 2019 at 5:02 am - Reply

    Duh the magic man in the sky made life.
    Science is to be ignored when it contradicts my view of the world.
    Please read my "Sheep herders guide to the universe"
    Disillusioned Christians are going to be super pissed.

  • Comment by Kevan808 February 21, 2019 at 5:08 am - Reply

    The egg came 1st 🐣

  • Comment by Adolfo Misiara Lincheta February 21, 2019 at 5:33 am - Reply

    12 seconds of cringe.

  • Comment by John Mech February 21, 2019 at 7:53 am - Reply

    How did life get here? God put it here. Simple as that.

  • Comment by Adrian Finnikin February 21, 2019 at 8:17 am - Reply

    I'm here to see all the scientific experts in this comment section.

  • Comment by Daerian Bowser February 21, 2019 at 9:18 am - Reply

    So another theory that people will claim is fact😂

  • Comment by faugnxxx February 21, 2019 at 11:39 am - Reply

    The earth is a flat petri dish on a dinosaur riding on a giant galactic space station

  • Comment by xcres February 21, 2019 at 11:39 am - Reply

    If only 4 elements required, then it's quite possible that with vast possiblity of earth like planets present on goldi boi zone… Life may be thriving there…
    But there no aliens coming around cuz still no one is advance enough to break the time law of physics travelling great distance
    It's like just a limiting barrier for us, we can't just make shift a teleporter

  • Comment by Bernardo Lino February 21, 2019 at 12:34 pm - Reply

    408 creationists didn't like this video

  • Comment by Anton Ekermans February 21, 2019 at 1:10 pm - Reply

    Any scientifically thinking person that ever admired someone for a theory or invention, then look at the complexity and genius of life and still think there is just materialism and causality behind it, is a hypocrite.

  • Comment by Israel Garza February 21, 2019 at 1:37 pm - Reply

    We find out how, then what? Whats next? What do we do? Is that it? Bc if it is then who cares

  • Comment by wulphstein February 21, 2019 at 1:39 pm - Reply

    Quantum entanglement magic!!!

  • Comment by Dani el February 21, 2019 at 2:23 pm - Reply

    Cool!

    But Let's say we descover that life started in a big messy molecule pool… what do we do with that info?
    Does it address our real world issues? Does it make us a better people? It won't even get rid of religion since religion isn't fact based

  • Comment by byram101 February 21, 2019 at 3:31 pm - Reply

    Close.. possible even… instead of the likelihood of this happening being a grim 1 in 10 to the power of 100 it's a much improved 1 in 10 to the power of 99.

  • Comment by Wintergamer 03 February 21, 2019 at 4:09 pm - Reply

    What about the 2nd law of thermodynamics? If you don't know what that is it's evrey thing is winding down. So how could rna turn into dna if evreything is winding down?

  • Comment by kiraPh1234k February 22, 2019 at 12:42 am - Reply

    Not interesting.

    Come back when someone has an idea of how the backbone would have fused naturally which is required for actual RNA replication. That's the biggest contention of the idea that RNA is the beginning of life since without it, there is no self replication.

  • Comment by Richard Vanwinkle February 22, 2019 at 4:04 am - Reply

    Stupid fucks dont know how pyramids were built. Yet claim to know such much more. Lmao

  • Comment by twitch xowrath February 22, 2019 at 2:35 pm - Reply

    Your to cringy please stop and go back to the kitchen

  • Comment by Burak Keles February 22, 2019 at 4:24 pm - Reply

    religious people: Autistic screeching

  • Comment by 6kchea ! February 22, 2019 at 5:12 pm - Reply

    Here for the triggered comments lol

  • Comment by skyhawk February 22, 2019 at 7:08 pm - Reply

    could , might , may ..are not scientific words .Science is evidence not a theory that could not be tested and reproduced .so u re busted 😂😂

  • Comment by Tru Hawaii February 22, 2019 at 10:39 pm - Reply

    Fire this lady her personality doesn’t promote learning. 👎

  • Comment by AmazinglyAverage February 22, 2019 at 11:54 pm - Reply

    Blind atheists smh

  • Comment by Sami Aljundi February 23, 2019 at 1:07 am - Reply

    Or we may NOT

  • Comment by Jonathan Hamlin February 23, 2019 at 1:26 am - Reply

    It’s very simple people God

  • Comment by Aurα вírdч February 23, 2019 at 5:29 am - Reply

    I bet they had big oof moments. Lokey

  • Comment by Ajinkya Patil February 23, 2019 at 8:15 am - Reply

    Clickbait

  • Comment by Rabbi Shekelstein February 23, 2019 at 8:19 am - Reply

    All is guided by consciousness.

  • Comment by Norman Mattson February 23, 2019 at 2:28 pm - Reply

    Let's get this figured out so the Creationists will shut up.

  • Comment by Gregg ooo February 23, 2019 at 4:15 pm - Reply

    Why does every YouTube personality have to sound like an uppity, cheesy paid actor

  • Comment by Hakan Noyan February 23, 2019 at 5:29 pm - Reply

    You sound sick girl 🤧😘

  • Comment by Black Ceiling February 24, 2019 at 12:53 am - Reply

    Evolution is bullshit, heliocentrism is bullshit, the big bang is bullshit. And you're a fucking idiot

  • Comment by Random gooy February 24, 2019 at 4:19 am - Reply

    Somebody just basacly made a new world duh

  • Comment by Justin Franks February 24, 2019 at 5:48 am - Reply

    Nothing like the realization that someone said to themselves, “make sure that those hands holding signs at 2:05 into the video are multi-cultured;” we don’t need people on the internet shitting all over the fact we made all the sign holders white!

  • Comment by Triadne February 24, 2019 at 7:59 am - Reply

    Life is inevitable. Patterns that replicate will continue to persist, and more successful replicating patterns will proliferate. Life is the preservation of information via transmission through replication.

  • Comment by Alterss Bot February 24, 2019 at 9:12 am - Reply

    This experiment ran decades ago though….

  • Comment by Mohd Khalid February 24, 2019 at 11:13 am - Reply

    The whole video is just beating around the bush. No scientist has then answer to this question.

  • Comment by Stan Chase February 24, 2019 at 12:05 pm - Reply

    A 4th believes that there's a creator..

  • Comment by MrQuepop February 24, 2019 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    creationists [*]

  • Comment by Haarith Adam February 24, 2019 at 6:31 pm - Reply

    Allah is the one who created the earth and created Adam an Hawa that’s how life started

    Only if your a Muslim you will understand

  • Comment by 1969nitsuga February 24, 2019 at 7:10 pm - Reply

    Another desperate salad of bullsh¡t! Any phenomena related to spontaneous life must be repeatible and consistent with known physics.

  • Comment by VARUN R.V February 24, 2019 at 8:31 pm - Reply

    Hi Nerd Girl…what’s ur name…

  • Comment by Earumamaadu February 24, 2019 at 8:35 pm - Reply

    It's obviously God. Right?

  • Comment by ?????? February 24, 2019 at 10:40 pm - Reply

    Someone help her find her way back to the kitchen.

  • Comment by Debra Dukes February 24, 2019 at 11:15 pm - Reply

    First I like to say that I actually appreciate that the Verge is taking the time to show these Videos so everyone else can either look into this more and open up everyone's mind and thoughts to learn and research more on their own.Thanks so much for sharing Deb 😉👍✌

  • Comment by Tim SNG February 25, 2019 at 1:55 am - Reply

    How does this relate to the Miller/Urey experiment?

  • Comment by Buster Beagle February 25, 2019 at 4:22 am - Reply

    …….God.

  • Comment by Zantagiro7 February 25, 2019 at 4:28 am - Reply

    one definite answer: ALLAH created everything!

  • Comment by Ali Abbas Narsinh February 25, 2019 at 6:21 pm - Reply

    Adam and Eve came first

  • Comment by Silver King February 25, 2019 at 9:01 pm - Reply

    Keyword: May

  • Comment by Jacob Bosley February 25, 2019 at 9:16 pm - Reply

    Does that mean the short answer is causality?

  • Comment by Jacob Bosley February 25, 2019 at 9:18 pm - Reply

    The images of the proteins on an atomic scale are awesome. There’s also the “flip it” program for eye candy.

  • Comment by john hanrahan February 25, 2019 at 9:33 pm - Reply

    Even if the RNA acids were to assemble, that's still a VERY far cry to developing into even the most basic organism.

  • Comment by Moore Tides February 26, 2019 at 4:04 pm - Reply

    I do not know your name, but I like all of your posts or reports on Seeker. I appreciate the science news, and the facts. It is easy for me to listen to on my breaks.

  • Comment by flexiblebird February 27, 2019 at 2:11 am - Reply

    This video gives no answer, just the knowledge of 50 years back. Stupid Clickbaiting.

  • Comment by Amanullah February 27, 2019 at 5:20 am - Reply

    So what actually god did?

  • Comment by Peerthy Dev February 27, 2019 at 7:16 pm - Reply

    Please note: the Dev newman structure; (revised version of the vannewman structure in computing)

    Life is a reciprocal function of death
    Life is inversely proportional to your situation
    Your situation is directly proportional to death
    Death is directly proportional to life

    A situation is the result of a set of protocols
    Protocols that were applied by humans
    A Protocol is a set of instructions.
    An Instruction is a set of commands.
    A Command is an action.

    Actions that were taken by humans involved in your situation.
    decrypt your situation to get information.
    Set your information as the protocol.
    Apply data already known for this protocol ( data aka knowledge)
    Then send the commands into your situation via your medium or interface. ( aka "speak" or txt). Repeat.
    It's for you to applied the math, world, i was always bad at it, but at least give me the credit if ever you use my code.🔥

  • Comment by sk8n barrow February 28, 2019 at 12:30 am - Reply

    The clickbait title does not get unlocked in this video.

  • Comment by C. Masta February 28, 2019 at 11:42 am - Reply

    The Miller-Urey experiment was completed and published in the 1950s, dude.

  • Comment by MIND NOVA February 28, 2019 at 12:39 pm - Reply

    YOU NEED JESUS IN YOUR LIFE!

  • Comment by Instakill February 28, 2019 at 7:55 pm - Reply

    Lost at DNA

  • Comment by Alex Alexandru March 1, 2019 at 6:35 am - Reply

    Bullshit this one , you show I love this "theory" is not near a good probable answer.

  • Comment by Calebunga March 2, 2019 at 8:50 pm - Reply

    When these Christian niggas say everything is responsible of god but realise all the diseases and shit going around in Asian and African countries and then have to blame it on lucifer.

  • Comment by Mark Lane March 4, 2019 at 8:26 am - Reply

    Irritating background muzak

  • Comment by Jim Moss March 5, 2019 at 10:08 pm - Reply

    *I Miss Trace D do you*?
    TRACE DOMINGUEZ HAS
    His own channel now guys!!!
    Check it out just search
    >>TRACE DOMINGUEZ <<

  • Comment by Cheeky Monkees March 6, 2019 at 1:56 am - Reply

    ONE WORD: PANSPERMIA.

  • Comment by Benjamin Browning March 6, 2019 at 1:48 pm - Reply

    GOD…..

  • Comment by samuel liljeholm March 6, 2019 at 11:55 pm - Reply

    https://www.facebook.com/Darwinandthemythicalevolutionarybeanstalk/photos/a.277098046347486/308041799919777/?type=3&theater

  • Comment by Daniel Viquez March 8, 2019 at 3:47 am - Reply

    3:07 missed the chance to spell GUAC but okay

  • Comment by Legion March 10, 2019 at 5:37 am - Reply

    So life on other planets with those elements in a flux state, energetic enough to form RNA strands is highly possible?…

  • Comment by Lineage2Ertheia March 10, 2019 at 12:50 pm - Reply

    Hate this smug bitch

  • Comment by Emmanuel Ponce March 11, 2019 at 2:40 pm - Reply

    All the elements needed for life aligned and our adaptation to the enviroment (substinence) shaped mutation thus evolution.They ask what came first the chicken or the egg? Neither,the yolk came first.We are much diffrent from our roots.

  • Comment by Imaginary Toast March 24, 2019 at 12:55 am - Reply

    Here's a Paradox: How was Time Itself Created?

  • Comment by Fatima Ismail March 24, 2019 at 7:26 pm - Reply

    If you read the Qur'an you'll find the answer your looking for go and read you don't know anything but Allah does because Allah created us and knows everything ❤

  • Comment by Infinity Beats April 12, 2019 at 7:44 pm - Reply

    We were made by God there is no possible way we were made from a big bang or a chemical mix

  • Comment by Birb 64 April 23, 2019 at 6:30 am - Reply

    I see where your going but there no need in lying and making it longer just accept him accept christ who loves all

  • Comment by AWSOMUS MUSIC. June 22, 2019 at 7:11 am - Reply

    Prometheus told me how….

  • Comment by G Philip C July 4, 2019 at 11:13 pm - Reply

    Some day a sentient "Computer" will argue where his/her/it's building blocks came from.

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi August 11, 2019 at 4:34 pm - Reply

    Sure there is metabolism with Chemistry before life it a question of trial and error of nature the first scientist is the nature, that is why math fits so well with science, math was also invented by nature humans just rediscover it.

    Until all the planets were aligned as in the Eclipse that you narrated of Einstein, and there life arose. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/metabolism-may-have-started-in-our-early-oceans-before-the-origin-of-life

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi August 11, 2019 at 5:14 pm - Reply

    I think that from a percentage or perspective everything is alive, it is that there are simply different metabolic processes and at certain times you can say that there is life, happiness and heart metabolism are intertwined and require interdependence, but metabolism alone does not make you human, the positive of the human being, his spirit his heart, that part is still a mystery to me, I think there must be a god, an angel

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi August 11, 2019 at 5:58 pm - Reply

    I think that since this ABBA theme is an angel like you, metabolism has a lot to do with genetics, but also intuitively and because of its content there is something artistic that comes from inside the soul, having children is the answer of having real happiness to be able to survive the heart that one carries inside with posterity https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxgQGw8v59E

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi August 11, 2019 at 6:29 pm - Reply

    There are cactus too in my country, cactus but a complete sustantiable one, in the North of Argentina https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7_al3uciVc

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi August 11, 2019 at 6:35 pm - Reply

    This may be the way true life begins in my country, the potential of Lithium https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXVJVgThuQM&t=433s

  • Comment by Mariano Alippi August 13, 2019 at 12:47 am - Reply

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrPCM0uKcj8

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