In this area, I outline a number of issues that need to be addressed if we are to understand the Origin of Life. These are as follows:-
- Earth or Space: Did life on Earth originate on Earth, or did it arrive from space? Has it always been present in the Universe?
- Homochirality: How did life start using molecules with a particular 'handedness' and avoid using their mirror images?
- Transfer Of Hereditary Information: How did life begin transferring hereditary information accurately enough to reproduce viable organisms?
- Genetic and Metabolic Views: Did life begin as a replicating molecule, or as a metabolic network?
- The molecules of first life: What were they?
- Trophic method: What did first life eat, and from where did it get its energy?
- Compartmentation: How did individuals originate?
- The Role of Minerals: Were they just part of the environment, or did they play an active part in the Origin Of Life?