Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39563496›Full record

ArticleJournal of the Royal Society, Interface2024

Experimentally measured assembly indices are required to determine the threshold for life.

Sara I Walker, Cole Mathis, Stuart Marshall, Leroy Cronin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Origins of life: the possible and the actual.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Sara I WalkerSchool of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0506, USA.
Cole MathisSchool for Complex Adaptive Systems, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-0506, USA.
Stuart MarshallSchool of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
Leroy CroninSchool of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.ORCID 0000-0001-8035-5757

Funding

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilJohn Templeton Foundation
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Assembly theory (AT) aims to distinguish living from non-living systems by explaining and quantifying selection and evolution. The theory proposes that the degree of assembly depends on the number of complex objects, with complexity measured using a combination of the object's assembly index (AI) and its abundance. We previously provided experimental evidence supporting AT's predictive power, finding that abiotic systems do not randomly produce organic molecules with an AI greater than approximately 15 in detectable amounts. Hazen

Indexed as

Models, Biologicalassembly indicesassembly theoryevolutionmineral complexityselection

Identifiers

PMID39563496
PMCPMC11576842

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.