In Search of the Origins of Life: A World of RNA?

HiPhiS (History & Philosophy of Science) Lecture by Philippe Nghe, biophysicist and professor at École Polytechnique, Laboratory of Structural Cell Biology (CNRS UMR 7654, École Polytechnique, Palaiseau). Free admission.

Conference Summary

How can we scientifically study an event that occurred in the early history of Earth and left almost no direct trace? Research into the origins of life relies on developing scenarios, identifying possible transitions, and testing them experimentally. The “RNA world” hypothesis is one such scenario: RNA can carry information, fold, and catalyze reactions, but it remains to be understood how simple molecules could have formed systems capable of reproducing, varying, and evolving. Our research combines biochemistry, physics, microfluidics, and artificial intelligence to experimentally reconstruct some of these transitions.

This approach also leads us to question how knowledge about origins is constructed. What can a laboratory experiment reveal about a unique historical event? How can we distinguish between possibility, plausibility, and probability, or compare multiple scenarios when direct data are lacking? We also address these questions in collaboration with researchers in the philosophy of science who study methods for investigating origins, as well as through dialogue with anthropological work on ways of defining and representing life. The origin of life thus becomes a field for examining the relationships between experimentation, modeling, scientific narratives, and representations of life.