On the origin of origins...

The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA.
Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music.
- Lewis Thomas

Information in Biology can be expressed in many ways, of which one of the simplest is in terms of DNA - the apothegmatic code of life. The familiar serpentine image of the spiraling double helix is a subject of much myth and mystery. It is also the centerpiece in the great puzzle of biology. Genes, genomes, and chromosomes are some of the fundamental features of form and function arising from the endless sequential tapestry of the DNA molecule. It is as if the entire hyper-structure of life on the planet is a manifestation of some musical form emerging out of the fecund potentialities of the cosmic background.  

             Repeating sequences (A, T, G, and C) of chemical motifs called nucleotides have, over a very large period of time, generated an astronomical variety of living systems. Accurately estimating the global census of all life on earth is a dizzying feat of taxonomical data collection. An astounding variety of shapes, sizes, colors, textures, tastes, smells, and sounds account for the myriad complexity of life forms found on earth. Even from a reductionist perspective, the immense intricacy of biophysical, molecular, and cellular details accommodated by living matter is absolutely breathtaking. And this is not to say that non-living matter is less complex in any way. After all, it is the apparently lifeless electrons surrounding the portent nucleus, which impart the much needed chemical proclivity for atoms to form molecules in the first place. 

  

              The most rudimentary ingredient of matter essential for terrestrial life to emerge is of course the planet itself, which was formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The occurrence of this event in the history of the solar system is a significant point in the emergence of life as we know it. Everything that superseded after this event is comparable only to other natural phenomena that we are familiar with; such as the sprouting of a stem from a seed, buried in the soil, watered by the rains and energized by the photonic energy of the Sun. It may take a few years for the little plant to grow into a full tree, which would bear flowers, fruits, and more seeds, but for some imaginary observer, who has no concept of how this works, and has never witnessed the growth of trees from seeds, it would be an imaginably complicated task to anticipate the unfolding of the entire process of development. 

              Our situation, when working out the origins of life on earth, is sightly more complex than this hypothetical observer. It may not be a coincidence therefore, that the reiterative bifurcating pattern of the Tree of Life is essentially similar to that of any other tree. This of course brings us to the paramount issue regarding the important role of trees themselves in sustaining the delicate balance of life on earth. 

Darwin's first sketch of the Tree of Life.

I speak for the trees! Let them grow! Let them grow!

- The Lorax.