The origins of abiotic species

How can life originate from a lifeless chemical soup? This question has puzzled scientists since Darwin's 'Origin of species'. University of Groningen chemistry professor Sijbren Otto studies 'chemical evolution' to see if self-organization and autocatalysis will provide the answer. His research group previously developed self-replicating molecules—molecules that can make copies of themselves—and have now observed diversification in replicator mutants. They found that if you start wi