We

Figure 1. The traditional stepped view of the tree of life.

We are all more closely related than you may think.

Historically, the development of life has always been portrayed in distinct, stepped stages. Life starts at the Root (Figure 1) and through time, evolution irons out the kinks, ultimately to make us, the most complex forms of life on the planet. But this has always left an important question, where did the Root come from?

Life is thought to have started from simple inorganic molecules (See big image below) and evolved in increasing complexity. Smaller particles combined to make larger more complex molecules which at some point gained the ability to replicate themselves.

This first self replicating unit was called "the replicant" as it was the first entity on earth which could replicate itself using a type of source code called DNA. However, even though the replication mechanisms were near perfect, every billion replications an error occurred, which in turn, made a new form of replicant. This process then repeated a zillion times over billion years until...us.

This process is called abiogenesis. Whilst the traditional stepped classification (see Figure 1) is useful to scientists, as it makes digestible chunks to interpret, in the real world the process is much more fluid more like the roots of a tree branching out. The key takeaway is that although many branches are produced it is still the same superorganism, as shown below.

Figure 2. The superorganism.

We are all more closely related than you think, as all life, in short, is DNA travelling through time!

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Further reading

• The Selfish Gene - Dawkins, Richard, 1941. Oxford ; New York :Oxford University Press, 1989. ISBN: 978-0198788607

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References