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Post by general313 on Feb 6, 2020 15:57:18 GMT
Abiogenesis and evolution are different things unless you are using the word "evolution" to describe something else other than biological evolution. But whatever first life began, there was a long period of organic molecular activity that precipitated it. And that precipitation was an evolution in and of itself that also had a long period of atomic activity prior to a long period subatomic activity. So for me, evolution began at the moment the first sub-atomic particles formed in the extreme heat Big Bang which has resulted in a Universe as it where a tiny portion of its constituent parts is aware of itself. Perhaps life is the Universe’s “brain?” Trying to define a precise time when evolution began is as futile as defining the generation when our ancestors stopped being reptiles and became mammals. Similarly the boundary between life and non-life is fuzzy, as we can see with viruses. Astrochemistry is making new discoveries about kinds of chemistry once thought not possible because conditions on Earth aren't favorable to them. A recent discovery is observable helium hydride (a compound of one hydrogen and one helium atom), now suspected to be the first compound to form in the universe. Astrophysicists think this molecule played an important role in making other compounds available in the early universe.
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