One of the profound questions that has intrigued me since I was very young, has been the nature, origin and evolution of life on Earth. I forget what planted this question in my head, but it has since evolved into a massive question mark that troubles me, especially in my spare time: the question of the origin and evolution of life, and moreover intelligent life. In a sense the question, and my thought process is representative of the scientific problem itself. As I had access to more and more data, the question became more and more subtle and complex, and so did the analysis. And today, I have assembled in my brain a complex, intertwined conundrum, which simply stated is the problem of the origin & evolution of life on planet Earth.
To analyse any problem, the first step is collection of data and/or information. That, i believe, is the basis of scientific analysis. More often that not, one encounters "analysis" done without sufficient backing with data, and it is not difficult to see through analysis that uses flawed data to fit preconcieved theories. This, we shall try and avoid. And in that very spirit this work is mostly about providing background information about the said topic, than it being about providing any solutions to the conundrums posed above. That, hopefully, shall be our endevour in a future work.
Firstly, we describe the physical environment in which we believe life originated on our planet. This is probably the most fantastic part of the work, since there is little data to prove a causal connection between the events we believe occured during the early phases of the planets formation, and the origin of life. However, it is reasonable to assume that the first life forms must've survived the conditions on the planet at the time. Thus, if we can determine the conditions that existed on Earth in its early history, we can make reasonable guesses at the kind of life it could sustain. Thus, knowing the origin and evolution of proto-Earth to present day Earth is of primary importance to the Origin of life.
We then discuss the bio-chemical contents of life forms, especially the simplest ones that might've been our first ancestors.
Then we discuss the physics of life itself, as to how the laws of physics tell us about life, living beings and the evolution of both.
We then take a step further and describe intelligent life.