How might you create life from ingredients of non-organic origin?

Question

I.e. not in a petri-dish using agar.

non-creationist answers only.

Answer 1

You can give any sort of pseudo-scientific name you want, but it's still effectively magic.

Answer 2

As a Biologist I really can't resist answering this one...

Anyway, if you want to create life from purely inorganic compounds (like say... Methane, Ammonia, Urea, H2 none of those Organic molecules like protein and carbohydrates) you would need a reducing atmosphere and a channel or concentrating apparatus (think small ponds and clay... this actually how the "Primordial Soup" was made, I mean using small ponds ) and an energy source (lightning or UV Rays anyone?)

After getting all of that (which is basically impossible on this planet because now we have an oxidizing atmosphere) you should come up with Coacervate particles and Proteinoid microspheres which should, through a complicated mechanism of enzyme formation, evolve into your primordial cell. And viola! you have your first organism (possessing all the attributes of life)

Miller tried doing what I stated above. He actually created protein-like (amino acids? not too sure...) molecules, but I'm not really too familiar with his experiment but you should check it out! Try pulling off another Miller experiment...

Answer 3

There's Miller's classic experiment:
http://www.astrobio.net/news/article461.html

Today, we can synthesize DNA. There's no reason why a whole cell can't be synthesized. But it's a complicated thing so it will take some time before we are so far. Artificial viruses have been made, though:
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/muhler/files/science-36.pdf

It was once believed that there was an essential difference between biological and synthetic chemistry. This was supported by Pasteur's experiments showing that bacteria could digest natural vine acid but not synthetic vine acid. It turned out that the synthetic form of vine acid was an isomer form. But L-D isomer was only discovered later.

Answer 4

Principle of emergence--meaning something elaborate can come out of something very simple. Single neurons can't think, but collectively they create what we call consciousness. What I'm trying to say is, single-celled bacteria can be created from water added with the necessary elements. Thousands to millions of years is needed, though. And also, let me clarify, even though life came from water, it definitely did not come from dust.

Answer 5

One cannot create life from ingredients of non-organic origin. But nature can. That is why we still wonder about nature.

Answer 6

What your referring to would be a form of Abiogenesis or Autogenisis, which is in fact the hypothesis that life can form from nonliving material. personally I do not believe such a spontaneous reaction is possible Good question though!!

Answer 7

ahh! great question, asked by great alchemists hundreds of years ago.

one way they found that made mice, was to sit old cloth and wheat in a jar for a while, and boom! mice appeared!!! they recorded this as success.

The second one was the Homonculous, a baby!!!! Sit like a jar of male sperm in a huge amount of male feces, throw in a few maggots and you have a baby!!!

True stories of miraculous alchesmists.