The scientific quest to understand how life began on the Earth approximately 4 billion years ago is undergoing a revolution. Charles Darwin famously wrote in 1871 that he thought that life started in a warm little pond. Following a century of research centered on a variety of approaches, several international research teams have come together to further develop Darwin’s insight. Laboratory and field experiments have demonstrated that through wet-dry cycling of hot spring waters, molecules resembling proteins and RNA-like polymers can self-assemble and become encapsulated to form protocells, a first step on the evolutionary path to living cells. 

Scientific American introduced this new discovery to the public on the cover of its August 2017 issue, declaring it to be a revolution in science. It had been long thought that life began in the oceans and later emerged onto continents, but the authors of this article presented the remarkable discovery of a hot spring mineral called geyserite which contained evidence for live thriving on land 3.5 billion years ago. The article then proposed seven steps to life originating on a volcanic landscape starting with simple organic compounds. This scenario later became known as the Hot Spring Hypothesis for an Origin of Life. The BIOTA Institute has been tasked with a new mission to provide resources to students and young scientists for the experimental testing of each of these seven stages.