We present a testable hypothesis related to an origin of life on land in which fluctuating
volcanic hot spring pools play a central role. The hypothesis is based on experimental …

The origin of nucleotides is a major question in origins-of-life research. Given the central
importance of RNA in biology and the influential RNA World hypothesis, a great deal of this …

The hypothesis that RNA and DNA are products of chemical and biological evolution has
motivated our search for alternative nucleic acids that may have come earlier in the …

Urea appears to be a key intermediate of important prebiotic synthetic pathways.
Concentrated pools of urea likely existed on the surface of the early Earth, as urea is …

A long-standing problem for the origins of life is that polymerization of many biopolymers,
including nucleic acids and peptides, is thermodynamically unfavourable in aqueous …

The prebiotic origins of ribose, nucleosides, and eventually RNA are enduring questions
whose answers are central to the RNA world hypothesis. The abiotic synthesis of sugars …

We propose that the first step in the origin of cellular life on Earth was the self-assembly of
fatty acids with the building blocks of RNA and protein, resulting in a stable aggregate. This …

Wet‐dry cycles are hypothesized to facilitate fundamental steps towards the emergence of
life on prebiotic Earth. Multiple wet–dry cycles have been demonstrated to promote …

The emergence of nucleosides is an important, but poorly understood, element of the origins
of life. We show that 2, 4, 6-triaminopyrimidine (TAP), a possible ancestral nucleobase of …

In addition to being one of the proponents of the “Lipid World hypothesis”, David Deamer,
together with other colleagues, pioneered studies involving formation of RNA-like oligomers …