ArticlePhilosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences2017
Chance, necessity and the origins of life: a physical sciences perspective.
Article in Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Role of Electron Spin, Chirality, and Charge Dynamics in Promoting the Persistence of Nascent Nucleic Acid-Peptide Complexes.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2025Article
- Reciprocating thermochemical mediator of pre-biotic polymer decomposition on mineral surfaces.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Eighteen distinctive characteristics of life.Heliyon · 2023Article
- A Physicochemical Consideration of Prebiotic Microenvironments for Self-Assembly and Prebiotic Chemistry.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- The "Water Problem"(Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Molecules, Information and the Origin of Life: What Is Next?Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Factoring Origin of Life Hypotheses into the Search for Life in the Solar System and Beyond.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Re-conceptualizing the origins of life.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2017Article
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Abstract
Earth's 4.5-billion-year history has witnessed a complex sequence of high-probability chemical and physical processes, as well as 'frozen accidents'. Most models of life's origins similarly invoke a sequence of chemical reactions and molecular self-assemblies in which both necessity and chance play important roles. Recent research adds two important insights into this discussion. First, in the context of chemical reactions, chance versus necessity is an inherently false dichotomy-a range of probabilities exists for many natural events. Second, given the combinatorial richness of early Earth's chemical and physical environments, events in molecular evolution that are unlikely at limited laboratory scales of space and time may, nevertheless, be inevitable on an Earth-like planet at time scales of a billion years.This article is part of the themed issue 'Reconceptualizing the origins of life'.
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