Life on Earth began more than 3 billion years ago, evolving from the most basic of microbes into a

dazzling array of complexity over time.

The origin of life is a scientific problem which is not yet solved. There are plenty of ideas, but few clear
facts.

It is generally agreed that all life today evolved by common descent from a single primitive life form We
do not know how this early form came about, but scientists think it was a natural process which took
place perhaps 3,900 million years ago. This is in accord with a philosophy called naturalism: only natural
causes are admitted.

We do not know whether metabolism or genetics came first. The main hypothesis which supports
genetics first is RNA world hypothesis, and the one which supports metabolism first is Protein world
hypothesis.

Another big problem is how cells develop. All existing forms of life are built out of cells

BIG BANG THEORY

The most popular theory of our universe's origin centers on a cosmic cataclysm unmatched in all of
history—the big bang. This theory was born of the observation that other galaxies are moving away from
our own at great speed, in all directions, as if they had all been propelled by an ancient explosive force.

WHAT IS THE BIG BANG THEORY?

Before the big bang, scientists believe the entire vastness of the observable universe, including all of its
matter and radiation, was compressed into a hot, dense mass just a few millimeters across. This nearly
incomprehensible state is theorized to have existed for just a fraction of the first second of time.

Big bang proponents suggest that some 10 billion to 20 billion years ago, a massive blast allowed all the
universe's known matter and energy—even space and time themselves—to spring from some ancient
and unknown type of energy.

The theory maintains that, in the instant—a trillion-trillionth of a second—after the big bang, the
universe expanded with incomprehensible speed from its pebble-size origin to astronomical scope.
Expansion has apparently continued, but much more slowly, over the ensuing billions of years.

ORIGINS OF THE THEORY

A Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître first suggested the big bang theory in the 1920s when he
theorized that the universe began from a single primordial atom. The idea subsequently received major
boosts by Edwin Hubble's observations that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions, and
from the discovery of cosmic microwave radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson.
The glow of cosmic microwave background radiation, which is found throughout the universe, is thought
to be a tangible remnant of leftover light from the big bang. The radiation is akin to that used to transmit
TV signals via antennas. But it is the oldest radiation known and may hold many secrets about the
universe's earliest moments.

The big bang theory leaves several major questions unanswered. One is the original cause of the big
bang itself. Several answers have been proposed to address this fundamental question, but none has
been proven—and even adequately testing them has proven to be a formidable challenge.

Scientists can't be sure exactly how the universe evolved after the big bang. Many believe that as time
passed and matter cooled, more diverse kinds of atoms began to form, and they eventually condensed
into the stars and galaxies of our present universe.

THE BIG BANG

One of the most persistently asked questions has been: How was the universe created? Many once
believed that the universe had no beginning or end and was truly infinite. Through the inception of the
Big Bang theory, however,no longer could the universe be considered infinite. The universe was forced to
take on the properties of a finite phenomenon, possessing a history and a beginning.

About 15 billion years ago a tremendous explosion started the expansion of the universe. This explosion
is known as the Big Bang. At the point of this event all of the matter and energy of space was contained
at one point. What exisisted prior to this event is completely unknown and is a matter of pure
speculation. This occurance was not a conventional explosion but rather an event filling all of space with
all of the particles of the embryonic universe rushing away from each other. The Big Bang actually
consisted of an explosion of space within itself unlike an explosion of a bomb were fragments are thrown
outward. The galaxies were not all clumped together, but rather the Big Bang lay the foundations for the
universe.

The origin of the Big Bang theory can be credited to Edwin Hubble. Hubble made the observation that
the universe is continuously expanding. He discovered that a galaxys velocity is proportional to its
distance. Galaxies that are twice as far from us move twice as fast. Another consequence is that the
universe is expanding in every direction. This observation means that it has taken every galaxy the same
amount of time to move from a common starting position to its current position. Just as the Big Bang
provided for the foundation of the universe, Hubbles observations provided for the foundation of the Big
Bang theory.
Since the Big Bang, the universe has been continuously expanding and, thus, there has been more and
more distance between clusters of galaxies. This phenomenon of galaxies moving farther away from
each other is known as the red shift. As light from distant galaxies approach earth there is an increase of
space between earth and the galaxy, which leads to wavelengths being stretched.

In addition to the understanding of the velocity of galaxies emanating from a single point, there is
further evidence for the Big Bang. In 1964, two astronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, in an
attempt to detect microwaves from outer space, inadvertently discovered a noise of extraterrestrial
origin. The noise did not seem to emanate from one location but instead, it came from all directions at
once. It became obvious that what they heard was radiation from the farthest reaches of the universe
which had been left over from the Big Bang. This discovery of the radioactive aftermath of the initial
explosion lent much credence to the Big Bang theory.

Definition

How did life start on Earth? When did it start? These questions remained mysteries for thousands of
years of human history. We know that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old and that bacteria could've
been found on Earth as early as 3.5 billion years ago. The theory of evolution provides us with an
explanation of how life started from a single-celled bacteria and diversified to the millions of species of
animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. But where did the first single cell come from?

Abiogenesis is a scientific theory which states that life arose on Earth via spontaneous natural means due
to conditions present at the time. In other words, life came from non-living matter.

Primitive Earth

Imagine a lifeless Earth; violent volcanoes, lightning storms, nearly boiling oceans, frequent earthquakes,
and an atmosphere with high levels of toxic gases. Primitive Earth was like that. Imagine an earth where
the air consisted of high concentrations of methane, ammonia, hydrogen, and vaporized water.

The Miller Experiment

In 1953, Stanley Miller sought out to answer the question of the origins of life on Earth. In his
experiment, he used an apparatus with a flask filled with water and chemicals thought to exist on
primitive Earth. What he found was these chemicals, under the right conditions, spontaneously formed
organic molecules. This experiment suggests that organic molecules could have spontaneously formed
on primitive Earth, giving way to the first living things.

Some scientists do not think the conditions of the Miller experiment were accurate to those on primitive
Earth, but subsequent experiments with altered atmospheres have shown similar results of the
spontaneous generation of amino acids, lipids, and nucleotides.

RNA Came First

For years it was debated among scientists if DNA, RNA, or proteins came first. DNA serves as the
principle means to store genetic information, and proteins can catalyze reactions. RNA is nucleic acid
that can act as a genetic library and catalyze reactions. This ability makes RNA the ideal candidate to
have started the first life on Earth.

So where did RNA come from? Can RNA spontaneously form? First let us review the structure of RNA.
RNA is composed of four nucleotide bases:

 Adenine
 Guanine
 Cytosine
 Uracil

These four nucleotides are the building blocks of RNA. If they can be synthesized spontaneously given
the conditions on primitive Earth, then a large piece of the puzzle of how life started can be solved. Lo
and behold, recently it was found that certain molecules can indeed form all four nucleotides in the
presence of ultra violet light, or sunlight.

Origin of Life: The Heterotroph Hypothesis

Life on Earth began about 3.5 billion years ago. At that point in the development of the Earth, the
atmosphere was very different from what it is today. As opposed to the current atmosphere, which is
mostly nitrogen and oxygen, the early Earth atmosphere contained mostly hydrogen, water, ammonia,
and methane.

In experiments, scientists have showed that the electrical discharges of lightning, radioactivity, and
ultraviolet light caused the elements in the early Earth atmosphere to form the basic molecules of
biological chemistry, such as nucleotides, simple proteins, and ATP. It seems likely, then, that the Earth
was covered in a hot, thin soup of water and organic materials. Over time, the molecules became more
complex and began to collaborate to run metabolic processes. Eventually, the first cells came into being.
These cells were heterotrophs, which could not produce their own food and instead fed on the organic
material from the primordial soup. (These heterotrophs give this theory its name.)
The anaerobic metabolic processes of the heterotrophs released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,
which allowed for the evolution of photosynthetic autotrophs, which could use light and CO2 to produce
their own food. The autotrophs released oxygen into the atmosphere. For most of the original anaerobic
heterotrophs, oxygen proved poisonous. The few heterotrophs that survived the change in environment
generally evolved the capacity to carry out aerobic respiration. Over the subsequent billions of years, the
aerobic autotrophs and heterotrophs became the dominant life-forms on the planet and evolved into all
of the diversity of life now visible on Earth.

Theories of Evolution

In the nineteenth century, as increasing evidence suggested that species changed over time, scientists
began to develop theories to explain how these changes arise. During this time, there were two notable
theories of evolution. The first, proposed by Lamarck, turned out to be incorrect. The second, developed
by Darwin, is the basis of all evolutionary theory.

Lamarck: Use and Disuse

The first notable theory of evolution was proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). He described
a two-part mechanism by which evolutionary change was gradually introduced into the species and
passed down through generations. His theory is referred to as the theory of transformation or
Lamarckism.

The classic example used to explain Lamarckism is the elongated neck of the giraffe. According to
Lamarck’s theory, a given giraffe could, over a lifetime of straining to reach high branches, develop an
elongated neck. This vividly illustrates Lamarck’s belief that use could amplify or enhance a trait.
Similarly, he believed that disuse would cause a trait to become reduced. According to Lamarck’s theory,
the wings of penguins, for example, were understandably smaller than the wings of other birds because
penguins did not use their wings to fly.

The second part of Lamarck’s mechanism for evolution involved the inheritance of acquired traits. He
believed that if an organism’s traits changed over the course of its lifetime, the organism would pass
these traits along to its offspring.

Lamarck’s theory has been proven wrong in both of its basic premises. First, an organism cannot
fundamentally change its structure through use or disuse. A giraffe’s neck will not become longer or
shorter by stretching for leaves. Second, modern genetics shows that it is impossible to pass on acquired
traits; the traits that an organism can pass on are determined by the genotype of its sex cells, which does
not change according to changes in phenotype.

Darwin: Natural Selection

While sailing aboard the HMS Beagle, the Englishman Charles Darwin had the opportunity to study the
wildlife of the Galápagos Islands. On the islands, he was amazed by the great diversity of life. Most
particularly, he took interest in the islands’ various finches, whose beaks were all highly adapted to their
particular lifestyles. He hypothesized that there must be some process that created such diversity and
adaptation, and he spent much of his time trying to puzzle out just what the process might be. In 1859,
he published his theory of natural selection and the evolution it produced. Darwin explained his theory
through four basic points:

Each species produces more offspring than can survive.

The individual organisms that make up a larger population are born with certain variations.

The overabundance of offspring creates a competition for survival among individual organisms. The
individuals that have the most favorable variations will survive and reproduce, while those with less
favorable variations are less likely to survive and reproduce.

Variations are passed down from parent to offspring.

Natural selection creates change within a species through competition, or the struggle for life. Members
of a species compete with each other and with other species for resources. In this competition, the
individuals that are the most fit—the individuals that have certain variations that make them better
adapted to their environments—are the most able to survive, reproduce, and pass their traits on to their
offspring. The competition that Darwin’s theory describes is sometimes called the survival of the fittest.

Natural Selection in Action

One of the best examples of natural selection is a true story that took place in England around the turn
of the century. Near an agricultural town lived a species of moth. The moth spent much of its time
perched on the lichen-covered bark of trees of the area. Most of the moths were of a pepper color,
though a few were black. When the pepper-color moths were attached to the lichen-covered bark of the
trees in the region, it was quite difficult for predators to see them. The black moths were easy to spot
against the black-and-white speckled trunks.

The nearby city, however, slowly became industrialized. Smokestacks and foundries in the town puffed
out soot and smoke into the air. In a fairly short time, the soot settled on everything, including the trees,
and killed much of the lichen. As a result, the appearance of the trees became nearly black in color.
Suddenly the pepper-color moths were obvious against the dark tree trunks, while the black moths that
had been easy to spot now blended in against the trees. Over the course of years, residents of the town
noticed that the population of the moths changed. Whereas about 90 percent of the moths used to be
light, after the trees became black, the moth population became increasingly black.

When the trees were lighter in color, natural selection favored the pepper-color moths because those
moths were more difficult for predators to spot. As a result, the pepper-color moths lived to reproduce
and had pepper-color offspring, while far fewer of the black moths lived to produce black offspring.
When the industry in the town killed off the lichen and covered the trees in soot, however, the selection
pressure switched. Suddenly the black moths were more likely to survive and have offspring. In each
generation, more black moths survived and had offspring, while fewer lighter moths survived to have
offspring. Over time, the population as a whole evolved from mostly white in color to mostly black in
color.
Types of Natural Selection

In a normal population without selection pressure, individual traits, such as height, vary in the
population. Most individuals are of an average height, while fewer are extremely short or extremely tall.
The distribution of height falls into a bell curve.

Natural selection can operate on this population in three basic ways. Stabilizing selection eliminates
extreme individuals. A plant that is too short may not be able to compete with other plants for sunlight.
However, extremely tall plants may be more susceptible to wind damage. Combined, these two selection
pressures act to favor plants of medium height.

Directional selection selects against one extreme. In the familiar example of giraffe necks, there was a
selection pressure against short necks, since individuals with short necks could not reach as many leaves
on which to feed. As a result, the distribution of neck length shifted to favor individuals with long necks.

Disruptive selection eliminates intermediate individuals. For example, imagine a plant of extremely
variable height that is pollinated by three different pollinator insects: one that was attracted to short
plants, another that preferred plants of medium height, and a third that visited only the tallest plants. If
the pollinator that preferred plants of medium height disappeared from an area, medium height plants
would be selected against, and the population would tend toward both short and tall plants, but not
plants of medium height.

The Genetic Basis for Evolution

Darwin’s theory of natural selection and evolution rests on two crucial ideas:

Variations exist in the individuals within a population.

Those variations are passed down from one generation to the next.

But Darwin had no idea how those variations came to be or how they were passed down from one
generation to the next. Mendel’s experiments and the development of the science of genetics provided
answers. Genetics explains that the phenotype—the physical attributes of an organism—is produced by
an organism’s genotype. Through the mechanism of mutations, genetics explains how variations arose
among individuals in the form of different alleles of genes. Meiosis, sexual reproduction, and the
inheritance of alleles explain how the variations between organisms are passed down from parent to
offspring.
With the modern understanding of genes and inheritance, it is possible to redefine natural selection and
evolution in genetic terms. The particular alleles that an organism inherits from its parents determine
that organism’s physical attributes and therefore its fitness for survival. When the forces of natural
selection result in the survival of the fittest, what those forces are really doing is selecting which alleles
will be passed on from one generation to the next.

Once you see that natural selection is actually a selection of the passage of alleles from generation to
generation, you can further see that the forces of natural selection can change the frequency of each
particular allele within a population’s gene pool, which is the sum total of all the alleles within a
particular population. Using genetics, one can create a new definition of evolution as the change in the
allele frequencies in the gene pool of a population over time. For example, in the population of moths
we discussed earlier, after the trees darkened, the frequency of the alleles for black coloration increased
in the gene pool, while the frequency of alleles for light coloration decreased.

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium

The Hardy-Weinberg principle states that a sexually reproducing population will have stable allelic
frequencies and therefore will not undergo evolution, given the following five conditions:

 large population size

The Hardy-Weinberg principle proves that variability and inheritance alone are not enough to cause
evolution; natural selection must drive evolution. A population that meets all of these conditions is said
to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Few natural populations ever experience Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium, though, since large populations are rarely found in isolation, all populations experience
some level of mutation, and natural selection simply cannot be avoided.

Development of New Species

The scientific definition of a species is a discrete group of organisms that can only breed within its own
confines. In other words, the members of one species cannot interbreed with the members of another
species. Each species is said to experience reproductive isolation. If you think about evolution in terms of
genetics, this definition of species makes a great deal of sense: if species could interbreed, they could
share gene flow, and their evolution would not be separate. But since species cannot interbreed, each
species exists on its own individual path.

As populations change, new species evolve. This process is known as speciation. Through speciation, the
earliest simple organisms were able to branch out and populate the world with millions of different
species. Speciation is also called divergent evolution, since when a new species develops, it diverges
from a previous form. All homologous traits are produced by divergent evolution. Whales and humans
share a distant common ancestor. Through speciation, that ancestor underwent divergent evolution and
gave rise to new species, which in turn gave rise to new species, which over the course of millions of
years resulted in whales and humans. The original ancestor had a limb structure that, over millions of
years and successive occurrences of divergent evolution, evolved into the fin of the whale and the arm of
the human.

Speciation occurs when two populations become reproductively isolated. Once reproductive isolation
occurs for a new species, it will begin to evolve independently. There are two main ways in which
speciation might occur. Allopatric speciation occurs when populations of a species become
geographically isolated so that they cannot interbreed. Over time, the populations may become
genetically different in response to the unique selection pressures operating in their different
environments. Eventually the genetic differences between the two populations will become so extreme
that the two populations would be unable to interbreed even if the geographic barrier disappeared.

A second, more common form of speciation is adaptive radiation, which is the creation of several new
species from a single parent species. Think of a population of a given species, which we’ll imaginatively
name population 1. The population moves into a new habitat and establishes itself in a niche, or role, in
the habitat (we discuss niches in more detail in the chapter on Ecology). In so doing, it adapts to its new
environment and becomes different from the parent species. If a new population of the parent species,
population 2, moves into the area, it too will try to occupy the same niche as population 1. Competition
between population 1 and population 2 ensues, placing pressure on both groups to adapt to separate
niches, further distinguishing them from each other and the parent species. As this happens many times
in a given habitat, several new species may be formed from a single parent species in a relatively short
time. The immense diversity of finches that Darwin observed on the Galápagos Islands is an excellent
example of the products of adaptive radiation.

Convergent Evolution

When different species inhabit similar environments, they face similar selection pressures, or use parts
of their bodies to perform similar functions. These similarities can cause the species to evolve similar
traits, in a process called convergent evolution. From living in the cold, watery, arctic regions, where
most of the food exists underwater, penguins and killer whales have evolved some similar
characteristics: both are streamlined to help them swim more quickly underwater, both have layers of fat
to keep them warm, both have similar white-and-black coloration that helps them to avoid detection,
and both have developed fins (or flippers) to propel them through the water. All of these similar traits
are examples of analogous traits, which are the product of convergent evolution.

Convergent evolution sounds as if it is the opposite of divergent evolution, but that isn’t actually true.
Convergent evolution is only superficial. From the outside, the fin of a whale may look like the flipper of
a penguin, but the bone structure of a whale fin is still more similar to the limbs of other mammals than
it is to the structure of penguin flippers. More importantly, convergent evolution never results in two
species gaining the ability to interbreed; convergent evolution can’t take two species and turn them into
one.