In the Beginning, There Was an Ecosystem

press release: Lecture by Lena Vincent, doctoral candidate at Wisconsin Institute of Discovery

How life got started here on Earth remains one of the deepest unsolved mysteries in science. To tackle this problem, our research group has pioneered a novel framework called chemical ecosystem selection to study the emergence of simple life-like phenomena that may represent a bridge between non-living ingredients and complex systems capable of reproduction and evolution. This approach may help advance our understanding of how life arose on the early Earth and assess the potential for life on other worlds.