Question for those who believe in Evolution?

Question

I am curious on something. Most of the time when I read answers from you, it's from the middle of the evolutionary chain (ie, life has already started). I was wondering what the theory of Evolution had to say about where life first came from. How did that first single-cell organism come into being?

I"m merely curious and hope this doesn't offend you. I don't think I"ve ever heard the answer before and would like to know. Thank you.

Answer 1

Please read the paper referenced below. It will at least give you a picture of how we're addressing the problem of DNA-use, protein creation, etc. There also a lot of good discussion in.
http://www.hhmi.org/news/szostak.html

It lays out the general parameters of the question & approach. Anyway, it's a start.

Answer 2

the only thing that comes to mind is the obviuos elements in out universe, as the earth fromed from a nebula, most of the water was held in comets which one by one smashed into the earth bringing the water with them. within the first half billion years small oceans could have formed.

plus the early earth was very hot form massive lava flows. lava releases gases mostly sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxed and some others. the atmosphere had no oxygen in it, and little water vapor. so the earth may have looked like venus at first. with clouds and weather comes stroms. lighting is a catalyst that changes the chemicals in the atompspere (i dont use the word air sence there wasnt any yet) it been done in lab tests more then 100yrs ago
a spherical glass contaner was filled with the gases found at volcanoes, spark plugs (lighning sythosizers) were paced inside. after a few hours of "sparking" the contents what was left was a combination of chemichal;s some of which were simle amoni acids, the early building blocks for DNA and life,

these chemical may have begon so make copies of themselve in pools of water. the water would have minerals dissolved into it like salt is in water today. these eslf replicating protien chains may very well have grown larger due to the abundance of material to use. though test prove that simple protiens can be made by synthesizing condition 4 villion years ago, the building blocks of life can be explained but the spark of life itself may not be. but once the forst microbs (bacteria, viruses, easily self replicaing organisms) appeared then they held on and spread

then rest must be filled in with scientific data from tests, records, open mindedness and skeptisms, science isnt based on faith, its on proof

Answer 3

JR is right, evolution is not concerned with where the first living organism came from, but how it changed from one cell to a squirrel or horse or human. Many people throw the whole beginning of universe to current manifestation of human under one umbrella called evolution, but this is not correct. Macro-evolution only concerns the chain of mutations that led us from one cell to many different many celled organisms. Micro-evolution is not a matter of belief, but of simple fact. The DNA of organisms changes to incorporate beneficial mutations - such as the human's increase in height over the years, or bacteria's increasing resistance to anti-septics.

To answer the question about where the first life form came from, I am not as familiar with the theories on this, but I believe it has to do with a complex reaction / interaction between matter and energy that culminated in a molecule's ability to divide and multiply on it's own and the changes kept going from there.

Answer 4

Evolution doesn't include the beginning of life, only how it evolved. The start of life is much different and more complicated. This is due to the fact that there isn't physical evidence to what conditions were like or what the first life was like.

Here is a good link on some research done:
http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/Exobiology/miller.html

Answer 5

The laws of the natural universe dictate that some molecules are attracted to each other, when some of these molecules come together the create more complex formations of molecules, like amino acids, amino acids are the building blocks of life, and we could not live with out them, they are what proteins are made of, proteins are what go to make up most of the living matter in our bodies. This still takes place today. There are many places on the Earth where you can witness this formation of molecules. Scientist don't just make this stuff up, they have seen many of these things with their own eyes.

Answer 6

Strictly speaking that is the question of origins not about evolution.

Evolution is basically done, not much left to discover, however how the first organism got going is cutting edge research at the moment and there are various competing theories. Its quite tough going back 3 billion years for the answer.

However yet again I find it strange that this is asked in R&S and not in biology!!

Answer 7

The theory doesn't encompass that. We have other ones working to cover it, but nothing quite ready for the mainstream yet. Give it some time tho, modern science is relatively new in the grand scheme of things.

BTW, I just found out that 39% of the US population doesn't accept Evolution (actually a lot smaller number than I would have guessed), making the US second only to Turkey in percentage of the population that doesn't accept it.

Answer 8

I dont know what part of the country you got your figures from on how many dont accept evolution where I live the figure is more like 95% which means those 5% havent been educated yet as to the facts and are still gullible and naive enough to believe that nonsense that has been so completely disproven but then there are still some uninformed people that actually in this 21st century still believe the earth is flat !! evolution isA THEORY WITH NO FACTS TO SUPPORT IT .!!!!!!!! and according to the latest evidence in Genetics mankind can be traced back to 2 people one Male one female and no other creatures and as for the amino acid theory again NO FACTS A LOT OF SPECULATION BUT NO FACTS a mathmatical theorist came up with this as a probability factor for just 4 of all of the amino acids to come togother spontaneously you would have a probability of 1 and write a string og zeros 26 trillion miles long or to simplify ABSOLUTELY ZERO CHANCE...!!!!!!!!!

Answer 9

I think your question shows that creation and evolution can co-exist. In other words God created and then continues the creation by the process of evolution. So creation is ongoing and we now have the knowledge and responsibility to help guide it. Pretty serious responsibility.

Answer 10

I probably shouldn't even get in on this question but...
I was watching the history channel and they had scientists do DNA testing on Neanderthal bones and the DNA showed that the Neanderthals were a totally different species than the human.
I found that very interesting thought maybe someone else would as well