Genetic Analysis Yields Intimations of a Primordial Commune: “Everything about the

origin of life on earth is a

mystery, and it seems the

more that is known, the

more acute the puzzles

get…The best efforts of chemists to

reconstruct molecules typical of life in the laboratory have

shown only that it is a problem of fiendish difficulty. The

genesis of life on earth, some time in the fiery last days of

the Hadean, remains an unyielding problem.”