The emergence of life on earth

There are many views, hypotheses and theories about the emergence of life on earth. The first was the theological theory. Its representatives believe that life is the result of divine providence. Despite the fact that the theory appeared in ancient times, it is actively being developed today, especially in church educational institutions. Modern theological anthropology in connection with constant discoveries is aimed at explaining scientific facts. At present, the theory has not been proved, but it has not been refuted either. Its disadvantage is that it is unscientific and can not be investigated through experiments.

The origin of life on earth is also justified by the theory of panspermia. Her supporters put forward a hypothesis about extragalactic origin. Representatives are - G. Richter, P. Lazarev, G. Helmholtz and others. Thus, Gemgolts believed that the spores of bacteria and other organisms were introduced to meteorites on Earth. With the help of laboratory studies it was found that living organisms are resistant to low temperatures and other adverse effects. Even prolonged maintenance of plant seeds and spores in liquid nitrogen or oxygen did not lead to their death. There is also a point of view that life was brought in specially or by chance by space aliens. There is an opinion that there are microorganisms in the dust and gas clouds of outer space. They are captured by comets and with the help of the latter they get on the planets.

There are other theories of the origin of life on earth. For example, the stationary state of the Earth. Its representatives believe that life has existed forever. Species also existed always and never arose. There is only a change in their numbers, or a particular species completely dies out. Supporters do not recognize the possibility of the existence of transitional forms. In support of their position, they lead a fiver-fish - Celakant, which for a long time was considered a transitional form from fish to amphibians. However, in 1939 the first specimen of this fish was caught, and then the subsequent one. This proved that Celakant is not a transitional form. There were other examples of the detection of extinct living organisms.

The origin of life on earth is justified by evolutionary theory. Representatives believe that the universe was formed about 15 billion years ago because of the Big Bang. After the galaxy, they began to move away at a great speed from each other. As a result, on our planet, under the influence of chemical and electrical reactions in the atmosphere and water, organic compounds were formed, then life began and the process of evolution of living matter began.

According to the biochemical theory of Oparin A., the origin of life on earth is viewed as the result of the evolutionary development of matter. The simplest organic matter arose from the gases of the primary atmosphere. As a result of abiogenic synthesis of organic compounds, chains of proteins and nucleic acids were formed. In the subsequent, phase-isolated systems of organic substances were formed, which were separated by membranes from the external environment. Then the emergence of the simplest cells, which possessed the properties of the living, and the subsequent evolution. In the experiments of L. Miller it was proved that amino acids and other organic molecules can be formed from inorganic constituents under the influence of ultraviolet and electric discharges.

The modern hypotheses of the origin of life on earth are different, however, the RNA world hypothesis is predominant. Supporters believe that during the chemical evolution there was an intermediate stage when individual RNA molecules multiplied and competed. As a result of the research, it was established that individual RNA molecules can self-reproduce without complex protein molecules.