Lakes Outshine Vents as Likely Cradle for Earth's First Life

A new PNAS paper by geochemist Benjamin Tutolo argues that life on Earth is unlikely to have originated in hydrothermal vents given ancient ocean chemistry and vent fluid conditions; vent systems would have been too alkaline, sulfur-poor, and lacked the necessary proton gradients, whereas evaporative lakes or ponds present a more plausible setting for assembling RNA, proteins, and lipids. The work challenges long-standing vent-based origins and implies we should rethink where to look for life elsewhere, though questions remain about lake-based scenarios.