Recent research illustrates how RNA molecules' chemical characteristics might have played a crucial role in the development of complex life forms. How did complex life manage to evolve on the early, inhospitable Earth? Initially, ribonucleic acid (RNA) must have existed to carry the first genetic i

This study reveals how life’s complexity could originate from simple RNA molecules on early Earth. Through experiments demonstrating RNA’s recycling and replication abilities under conditions such as low salinity and high pH, the research suggests life could emerge from minimal molecular sets in environments akin to volcanic islands. This means that an RNA world could arise without the prior necessity for long complex sequences.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.3c10813# (open access)