Graduate Research Course
The Origin of Life on Earth
From the molten Hadean surface to LUCA, the Great Oxygenation Event, and the explosion of complexity — the biochemistry, geochemistry, and physics of how life emerged 3.8 billion years ago.
Key Equations of Life's Origin
Miller-Urey yield
\( Y_\text{AA} = k \cdot [CH_4][NH_3] \cdot t \cdot E_\text{spark} \)
Exponential abiogenesis
\( \frac{dN}{dt} = r\,N(1 - N/K) \)
RNA self-replication
\( \dot{x}_i = (A_{ii} Q - D) x_i + \sum_{j \neq i} A_{ij}(1-Q) x_j \)
Drake equation
\( N = R_\star \cdot f_p \cdot n_e \cdot f_l \cdot f_i \cdot f_c \cdot L \)
GOE O₂ accumulation
\( \frac{d[O_2]}{dt} = P_\text{photo} - S_\text{sink} \)
Cambrian diversification
\( S(t) = S_0 \, e^{(\lambda - \mu) t} \)
Featured Lecture
Nick Lane — The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution and the Origin of Life
About This Course
How did a sterile ball of molten rock become a living planet in less than a billion years? This course traces the chain of physical, chemical, and geological events that transformed the Hadean Earth into a world of self-replicating chemistry, single cells, and finally the multicellular complexity we see today. Along the way we derive the thermodynamics of peptide bonds, model ribozyme quasispecies, and compute the free-energy gradients across serpentinizing hydrothermal chimneys.
Cross-links connect to our Astrobiology Calculator, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology courses for deeper dives into metabolism, the central dogma, and the physics of habitability. Every module includes MathJax derivations, SVG geochemistry diagrams, and runnable Python simulations.
The syllabus follows the community consensus while flagging open controversies: alkaline-vent vs warm-little-pond, RNA-first vs metabolism-first, the Venus phosphine dispute, and the uncertain width of the Drake equation's fl parameter. At graduate level, we present competing models side-by-side rather than enforcing a single narrative.
Nine Modules
M0
Early Earth & Hadean Eon
Earth formation 4.56 Gya, core differentiation, Theia impact, Late Heavy Bombardment, early reducing atmosphere, ocean formation, and the oldest Strelley Pool stromatolites at 3.48 Gya.
M1
Prebiotic Chemistry
Miller-Urey 1953 revisited, Strecker amino-acid synthesis, formose reaction, Murchison meteorite delivery, Powner 2009 ribonucleotide route, and the peptide-bond thermodynamics problem.
M2
The RNA World
Self-splicing ribozymes (Cech & Altman), the ribosome as a ribozyme, cross-replicating RNA (Lincoln & Joyce), Eigen quasispecies and the error catastrophe, and pre-RNA world alternatives.
M3
Hydrothermal Origins
Alkaline Lost City vents, serpentinization thermodynamics, natural proton gradients across mineral membranes, FeS catalysis of CO₂ reduction, and the Russell-Martin chemiosmotic hypothesis.
M4
First Cells & LUCA
Szostak fatty-acid protocells, archaeal vs bacterial membrane divide, the 355-gene LUCA reconstruction (Weiss 2016), three-domain phylogeny, and origins of the genetic code.
M5
Panspermia & Alternatives
Arrhenius-Crick panspermia, Deinococcus radiodurans survival limits, lithopanspermia from Mars, ALH84001 controversy, ice-eutectic and subsurface alternative origins.
M6
The Great Oxygenation Event
Cyanobacterial water-splitting at PSII, atmospheric O₂ rise 2.4 Gya, banded iron formations, Huronian and Neoproterozoic snowball Earths, and the second oxygenation enabling animals.
M7
Major Evolutionary Transitions
Maynard Smith & Szathmáry eight transitions, Asgard archaea and mitochondrial endosymbiosis, snowflake yeast multicellularity, Cambrian Explosion diversification, and cooperation theory.
M8
Astrobiology Frontiers
Kasting habitable zones, biosignature spectroscopy, Mars/Europa/Enceladus searches, JWST exoplanet atmospheres, the Venus phosphine debate, Drake equation Monte Carlo, Fermi paradox.
Recommended Textbooks
- [1] Orgel, L.E. (1973). The Origins of Life: Molecules and Natural Selection. John Wiley & Sons.
- [2] Lane, N. (2015). The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life. W.W. Norton.
- [3] Pross, A. (2016). What is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press.
- [4] Deamer, D. (2019). Assembling Life: How Can Life Begin on Earth and Other Habitable Planets? Oxford University Press.
- [5] Maynard Smith, J. & Szathmáry, E. (1995). The Major Transitions in Evolution. Freeman.
- [6] Hazen, R.M. (2012). The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years. Penguin.
- [7] Knoll, A.H. (2003). Life on a Young Planet. Princeton University Press.
- [8] Catling, D.C. & Kasting, J.F. (2017). Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds. Cambridge University Press.