In such a chemically rich environment, many of the simple molecules from which life is built can form more or less spontaneously. We are talking about small molecules, with less than a hundred atoms, including the amino acids from which all proteins are made, the nucleotides from which all genetic material is made, the carbohydrates or sugars that are often used like batteries to store energy, and the fatty phospholipids from which cellular membranes are built. Today, such molecules don’t arise spontaneously because atmospheric oxygen would rip them apart. But there was hardly any free oxygen
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