Reports on Progress in Physics
KEY ISSUES REVIEW
Origins of life: a problem for physics, a key issues review
Sara Imari Walker
Published 14 August 2017 • © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd
Reports on Progress in Physics, Volume 80, Number 9
Author e-mails
sara.i.walker@asu.edu
Author affiliations
School of Earth and Space Exploration and Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, United States of America
Dates
Received 25 March 2014 Accepted 8 June 2017
Accepted Manuscript online 8 June 2017 Published 14 August 2017
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Citation
Sara Imari Walker 2017 Rep. Prog. Phys. 80 092601
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Corresponding Editor Bob Austin
Abstract
The origins of life stands among the great open scientific questions of our time. While a number of proposals exist for possible starting points in the pathway from non-living to living matter, these have so far not achieved states of complexity that are anywhere near that of even the simplest living systems. A key challenge is identifying the properties of living matter that might distinguish living and non-living physical systems such that we might build new life in the lab. This review is geared towards covering major viewpoints on the origin of life for those new to the origin of life field, with a forward look towards considering what it might take for a physical theory that universally explains the phenomenon of life to arise from the seemingly disconnected array of ideas proposed thus far. The hope is that a theory akin to our other theories in fundamental physics might one day emerge to explain the phenomenon of life, and in turn finally permit solving its origins.
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