Origin of Life

Authors: Ashwini Kumar Lal

(Submitted on 21 Jul 2009 (v1), last revised 13 Aug 2009 (this version, v5))

Abstract: The evolution of life has been a big enigma despite rapid advancements in the fields of astrobiology, astrophysics, and genetics in recent years. The answer to this puzzle has been as mindboggling as the riddle relating to evolution of Universe itself.

Despite the fact that panspermia has gained considerable support as a viable explanation for origin of life on the Earth and elsewhere in the Universe, the issue however, remains far from a tangible solution.

This paper examines the various prevailing hypotheses regarding origin of life like abiogenesis, RNA(ribonucleic acid) world, iron-sulphur world, and panspermia; and concludes that delivery of life-bearing organic molecules by the comets and meteorites in the early epoch of the Earth alone possibly was not responsible for kick-starting the process of evolution of life on our planet.

Comments: 27 pages,7 figures (invited review article)

Subjects: General Physics (physics.gen-ph); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Journal reference: Astrophysics & Space Science (2008) 317: 267-278

DOI: 10.1007/s10509-008-9876-6

Cite as: arXiv:0907.3552v5 [physics.gen-ph]

Submission history

From: Lal Ashwini Kumar [view email]

[v1] Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:39:41 GMT (1110kb)

[v2] Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:13:50 GMT (437kb)

[v3] Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:50:34 GMT (404kb)

[v4] Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:38:37 GMT (1100kb)

[v5] Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:46:52 GMT (525kb)

http://arxiv.org/abs/0907.3552