15. The Evolution of Microbial Life

Each option below lists several of the major events in the history of life on Earth. Which option presents the events in the correct order from the oldest to the most recent?

The Miller-Urey experiment showed that molecules like amino acids can form abiotically. However, the experiment has been criticized for using what are now believed to be incorrect environmental conditions. Scientists have since repeated the experiment using conditions that are thought to be more like the conditions where life first evolved and achieved the same results. What conditions did scientists likely try to replicate in the lab to model the abiotic synthesis of the first biological molecules?

The “RNA World” hypothesis is largely based on RNA’s ability to do what two specific things?