Life rose from a sequence of cascading chemical reactions following a meeting between cyanide ions and glycoaldehyde phosphates, according to this hypothesis from Sylvain Smadja.
I’m reminded of Cairns-Smith, which probably shows a deep misunderstanding on my part.

An eloquent takedown of an unreasoner who surely didn’t vote for Obama.

“[scientist] recently discovered that combining the PA molecules with hyaluronic acid (HA), a biopolymer readily found in the human body in places like joints and cartilage, resulted in an instant membrane structure in the form of self-assembling sacs. The sac membrane was found to have hierarchical order from the nanoscale to microscale giving it unique physical properties….” Full Slice

“…researchers have identified a new biological marker present in the urine of patients with prostate cancer that indicates whether the cancer is progressing and spreading…the scientists identified 10 metabolites that become more abundant in prostate cells as cancer progresses. Their studies showed that one of these chemicals, sarcosine, helps prostate cancer cells invade surrounding tissue…investigator…and colleagues…showed that as prostate cancer develops and progresses, sarcosine levels increase in both tumor cells and urine samples, suggesting that measurements of the metabolite could aid in non-invasively diagnosing the disease. Researchers might also be able to inhibit prostate cancer’s spread by designing drugs that manipulate the sarcosine pathway.

The study is the first to analyze the levels of more than 1,000 different metabolites in human tumors….” Full Slice

“Researchers…have fabricated hybrid coaxial metal-oxide/carbon nanotube arrays as cathode material for high performance lithium-ion batteries. The coax tubes consist of a manganese oxide (MnO2) shell and a highly conductive nanotube (CNT) core…The team…found that stronger cyclic stability and capacity of MnO2/CNT coaxial nanotube electrodes resulted from the hybrid nature of the electrodes with improved electronic conductivity and a dual mechanism of lithium storage. The reversible capacity of the battery was increased by an order compared to template grown MnO2 nanotubes, making them suitable electrodes for advanced Li-ion batteries…” Full Slice