Edison Scientific · FutureHouse

Demonstrate the emergence of life from chemical precursors in a laboratory setting.

Specifically, demonstrate the unassisted emergence of self replicating RNA- and protein-based cells from a plausible primordial soup with a plausible energy source. A “cell” may be any compartment with a defined boundary. To be considered successful, the following conditions must be met. Firstly, it must be shown that the emergent cells can increase their abundance by at least a factor of 10⁶ (roughly 20 generations), when provided with sufficient primordial soup and energy. Secondly, it must be plausible that division could continue indefinitely given sufficient energy and primordial soup. For example, solutions that involve the cells monotonically decreasing in size over successive divisions would not be accepted.…