The ‘Warm Little Pond’ Hypothesis
Charles Darwin famously imagined that life could have originated in a warm, little pond rich in organic compounds and energy sources. Recent experiments lend support to this idea, demonstrating that cycles of wetting and drying in small ponds can facilitate the formation of complex molecules, such as RNA. This scenario suggests that Earth’s shallow water bodies may have been ideal incubators for early life, providing both the necessary ingredients and the environmental conditions required for chemical evolution.