Abstract
Research on the origin of life is highly heterogeneous. After a peculiar historical development, it still includes strongly opposed views which potentially hinder progress. In the 1st Interdisciplinary Origin of Life Meeting, early-career researchers gathered to explore the commonalities between theories and approaches, critical divergence points, and expectations for the future. We find that even though classical approaches and theories—e.g., bottom-up and top-down, RNA world vs. metabolism-first—have been prevalent in origin of life research, they are ceasing to be mutually exclusive and they can and should feed integrating approaches. Here we focus on pressing questions and recent developments that bridge the classical disciplines and approaches, and highlight expectations for future endeavours in origin of life research.
Highlights
Understanding the origin of life (OoL) is one of the major unsolved scientific problems of the century
Other striking examples for integration in OoL research come from geological studies providing a better picture of the Hadean world, including the likely atmospheric composition and the depths of oceans and tectonic activity [145,146]
How can the future hold more interconnections between approaches and theories? Some tools are general for all types of linking between seemingly disconnected research (Box 1)
Summary
Understanding the origin of life (OoL) is one of the major unsolved scientific problems of the century. Despite evidence that untangling this knot will require a concerted and collaborative effort between different disciplines, technologies, individuals and groups [2], division in OoL research is still marked, concerning both theories (e.g., RNA world vs metabolism-first) and approaches (e.g., bottom-up vs top-down). What causes these on-going divisions, and how can heated debates be moderated?. The list of individual theories, different lines of experimental and theoretical research and diverse views on the OoL is extensive and eclectic It is not the purpose of this article to be a comprehensive review of all of those.
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