Abiogenesis ≠ Evolution

Last updated: February 2, 2026

Two different questions: how life started and how life changes.

Quick Answer

Abiogenesis studies how chemistry could produce self-replicating systems. Evolution explains how those systems diversify afterward. Multiple prebiotic steps have been demonstrated experimentally.

The Claim

"Evolution can't explain the origin of life."

The Facts

• Evolution (biology) explains diversification after life exists—through mutation, selection, drift, and gene flow.
• Abiogenesis (chemistry) studies how non-living chemistry produces the first self-replicators. It addresses a distinct research domain with testable hypotheses.
• Empirical support for steps: amino acids and nucleotides from simple gases; self-assembling lipid vesicles; catalytic RNAs; metabolic cycles driven by geochemical energy.

Simple Picture

First: chemistry produced molecules that could copy themselves with errors. Then: evolution took over. Different questions, different evidence.

Evidence Highlights

• Prebiotic synthesis: Amino acids (Miller-Urey), nucleotides (Sutherland lab), sugars (formose reaction) from early-Earth chemical conditions.
• RNA world support: Ribozymes that catalyze their own replication steps; ribosome's core is RNA-based catalysis.
• Cell-like compartments: Fatty acids spontaneously form vesicles that grow and divide; mineral surfaces catalyze polymerization.
• Energy sources: Alkaline hydrothermal vents provide pH/Redox gradients and catalytic minerals—natural proton-motive forces.

Further Reading

• Nature: Origins of life research (news feature)
• Science: Prebiotic chemistry advances (review)

Primary Sources

• Powner, Gerland & Sutherland (2009). Synthesis of activated pyrimidine ribonucleotides in prebiotically plausible conditions. Science.
• Patel et al. (2015). Common origins of RNA, protein and lipid precursors. Nature Chemistry.
• Zhang et al. (2010). RNA-catalyzed RNA replication. Science.
• Lincoln & Joyce (2009). Self-sustained replication of an RNA enzyme. Nature.
• Lane & Martin (2010). The energetics of genome complexity. Nature.
• Szostak et al. (2009). Protocells in prebiotic chemistry. Current Biology.
• Russell et al. (2010). Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life. Philosophical Transactions B.
• (For context) Miller (1953). Production of amino acids under possible primitive Earth conditions. Science.
• Nitschke & Russell (2009). Hydrothermal focusing of chemical/chemiosmotic energy at life's emergence. Journal of Molecular Evolution.
• Mansy & Szostak (2009). Reconstructing the emergence of cellular life through protocells. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia.

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