A recent study led by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, proposes a new approach to the origin and replication of ribonucleic acid (RNA) on the early Earth, through the lens of complexity theory. The researchers have developed a theoretical and computational model called EarlyWorld that sheds light on one of science’s greatest enigmas: the origin of life. The study, published in Communications Chemistry, suggests that the interaction between primitive RNA molecules and clay surfaces, under the influence of tides, may have facilitated the emergence of the first self-replicating systems on our planet.
