Origin of life - a simpler explanation?
Gunther Waechtershaeuser, a German patent office worker (shades of Einstein!), has developed a theory concerning the origin of life that would make biogenesis much more likely and common than previous ideas such as the "primodial soup" model. With materials reacting in two dimensions on the surface of pyrite crystals, interactions are much more likely and life may have originated on Earth in extreme conditions, much earlier that currently proposed.
http://www.earthsky.com/2000/esmi000804.html
http://www2.mybc.com/news/fs.cfm?source_id=RTR&id=912087