From soup to cells the origin of life
Many lines of evidence help illuminate the origin of life: ancient fossils, radiometric dating, the phylogenetics and chemistry of modern organisms, and even experiments. However, since new evidence is constantly being discovered, hypotheses about how life originated may change or be modified. It's important to keep in mind that changes to these hypotheses are a normal part of the process of science and that they do not represent a change in the basis of evolutionary theory.
Here, you can learn about important hypotheses regarding when, where and how life originated and find out how scientists study an event that occurred so long ago.
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Apex Chert microbe-like cellular filament image provided by J. William Schopf
Understanding Evolution © 2016 by The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California