shawn001
Well-Known Member
There are many theories as to how the life started from non-life and then perpetuated. There is not much definitive proof for any of these theories, yet.
A warranty do I have that singled cell organisms predate all other things?
Well, in Australia there are cyanobacteria fossils that date back 3.5 billion years. You won't find a fossil around this time of more than a cell. The earliest known fossil of an organism with more than one cell is 2.1 billion years old.
As far as possible ways could start programmed to stay alive, well the best I can give you sources to people who study this sort of things exclusively.
"LA JOLLA, CA, January 8, 2009—One of the most enduring questions is how life could have begun on Earth. Molecules that can make copies of themselves are thought to be crucial to understanding this process as they provide the basis for heritability, a critical characteristic of living systems. Now, a pair of Scripps Research Institute scientists has taken a significant step toward answering that question. The scientists have synthesized for the first time RNA enzymes that can replicate themselves without the help of any proteins or other cellular components, and the process proceeds indefinitely."
News Release
Consider that:
"In March 2015, NASA scientists reported that, for the first time, complex DNA and RNA organic compounds of life, including uracil, cytosine and thymine, have been formed in the laboratory under conditions found only in outer space, using starting chemicals, like pyrimidine, found in meteorites. Pyrimidine, like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most carbon-rich chemical found in the Universe, may have been formed in giant red stars or in interstellar dust and gas clouds, according to the scientists.[60]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rna_world
"cyanobacteria fossils that date back 3.5 billion years."
Which can still be found today and they don't get this but its the reason they can even breathe. It evolved photosynthesis and gave the Earth its oxygen atmosphere.
Evolution and Oxygen
3 Billion years ago cyanobacteria appeared on the planet, changing the course of life on earth. Scientists call this event the Oxygen Catastrophe.
This video discusses the appearance of cyanobacteria and the effect it had on the evolution of life over the next 3 billion years.