Origines de la vie

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Scientists create "artificial life"

http://io9.com/5543843/scientists-create-artificial-life-+-synthetic-dna-that-can-self+replicate In one of the biggest breakthroughs in recent history, scientists have created a synthetic genome that can self-replicate. So what does this mean? Are we about to become gray goo? Led by Craig Venter of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the team of scientists combined two existing techniques to transplant synthetic DNA into a bacteria. First they chemically synthesized a bacterial genome, then they used well-known nuclear transfer techniques (used in IVF) to transplant the genome into a bacteria.
The Cell - BBC

Origin Of Life On Earth: Simple Fusion To Jump-start Evolution

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081218213634.htm ScienceDaily (Dec. 18, 2008) — With the aid of a straightforward experiment, researchers have provided some clues to one of biology's most complex questions: how ancient organic molecules came together to form the basis of life. Specifically, this study demonstrated how ancient RNA joined together to reach a biologically relevant length. RNA, the single-stranded precursor to DNA, normally expands one nucleic base at a time, growing sequentially like a linked chain.
http://www.livescience.com/5948-life-origin-shallow-affair.html

Life's Origin May Have Been a Shallow Affair | LiveScience

In finding answers to the mystery of the origin of life, scientists may not have to dig too deep. New research is shedding light on shallower waters as a possible location for where life on Earth began. Hydrothermal vents have been a focus of origin of life studies ever since the first one was discovered in 1977. These were mainly deep vents that averaged 2,100 meters [1.3 miles] down on the ocean floor. The hot gasses emanating from the center of the Earth through these vents could reach temperatures greater than 300 degrees Celsius.