From the Skepchick Quickies this morning, check out Why Life Originated (and Why it Continues). It’s fair to say that evolution is a fact and that natural selection is the best scientific theory to explain how that happens. But, as the 150th anniversary of Origin of the Species approaches, we reflect on the fact that this still leaves open the question of the origin of life. Although different hypotheses have been put forth, mostly along the lines of chemical evolution in the environment of the early Earth, the evidence for any one theory is weak. Although the idea of life arising where none existed is initially difficult to understand, a recent paper by Arto Annila of the University of Helsinki and Erkki Annila of the Finnish Forest Research Institute explores this notion. The important thing to note is
“The most important idea in our study is that there is no distinction between animate and inanimate,” Arto Annila told PhysOrg.com.
These processes, regardless of their status within an organism or not, can be traced through a sort of evolutionary path in a way that, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics, increases entropy with time. The steady state that these processes are trying to achieve is a balance between energy output of the sun onto the Earth and adequate usage of that energy.
In this sense, life is a very natural thing, which emerged simply to satisfy basic physical laws. Our “purpose,” so to speak, is to redistribute energy on the Earth, which is in between a huge potential energy difference caused by the hot Sun and cold space. Organisms evolve via natural selection, but at the most basic level, natural selection is driven by the same thermodynamic principle: increasing entropy and decreasing energy differences. The natural processes from which life emerged, then, are the same processes that keep life going – and they operate on all timescales.
Fascinating view with pretty obvious philosophical implications.
Now, on to the universe, Nancy Atkinson of Universe Today reports on a new study that talks about the initial conditions for the Big Bang. Researchers from Caltech have begun to speculate and then yo actually study what may have happened before the Big Bang, or so they claim. However, it seems rather they are talking about the initial conditions for inflation, not for the Big Bang itself. This is incredibly important because many of the characteristics of the universe were set during inflation. Read the article, it’s pretty cool, and they also make testable predictions!
And everything… um, well… 42. There’s lots more interesting stuff going on, but I have little time to check it all out now!
Nicole
Tim
