Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A remarkable study published in Science Advances says life on Earth has two origins instead of one. The study by evolutionary biologists at the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, looks at a time in Earth’s history some four billion years ago, particularly what is known as the last universal ancestor of all cells or LUCA.
Evolutionary biologist Dr. William F. Martin, senior author of the study, says, “The new data leave only one conclusion. The bacteria and archaeal lineages made the transition to the free-living state independently. Only free-living cells are alive. Let’s call it by name: we are looking at one origin of the genetic code, but two origins of life.”
Professor Martin spoke to MCR from Düsseldorf.
A remarkable study published in Science Advances says life on Earth has two origins instead of one. The study by evolutionary biologists at the Institute of Molecular Evolution at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, looks at a time in Earth’s history some four billion years ago, particularly what is known as the last universal ancestor of all cells or LUCA.
Evolutionary biologist Dr. William F. Martin, senior author of the study, says, “The new data leave only one conclusion. The bacteria and archaeal lineages made the transition to the free-living state independently. Only free-living cells are alive. Let’s call it by name: we are looking at one origin of the genetic code, but two origins of life.”
Professor Martin spoke to MCR from Düsseldorf.
