Scientists from Hiroshima University in Japan have proposed a new hypothesis for the origin of life: the earliest biochemical reactions may have occurred not in the open ocean or in hydrothermal vents, but inside thin sticky gel films coating rocks, minerals, and soil on the young Earth. These gels acted as natural “mini-laboratories,” concentrating molecules and enabling their orderly interactions. The study is published in ChemSystemsChem.

Gels Instead of a Dilute “Primordial Soup”

Classical theories suggest that life emerged either in dilute aqueous solutions or within short strands of RNA. The new model shifts the focus to gel-like polymer layers that could have formed from simple organic molecules in the presence of minerals.

These gels performed several critical functions at once:
• they kept reactants at high local concentrations, preventing them from dispersing;
• they provided scaffolding on which molecules could align in the correct order;
• they buffered sudden changes in temperature, humidity, and pH;
• they selectively absorbed and retained essential compounds.

This environment could have greatly increased the likelihood of forming long RNA chains, peptides, and the first protometabolic cycles — long before the appearance of true cell membranes.

“These mini-laboratories may have formed the foundation for the first self-replicating systems and elementary heredity, preparing the ground for biological evolution,” the authors write.

Implications for the Search for Life in the Universe

The hypothesis carries significant astrobiological implications: similar gel-like films (“xenogels”) may exist on Mars, Europa, Enceladus, and various exoplanets. This means that the search for life should focus not only on individual biomarkers but also on the ability of chemical systems to self-organize into stable gel structures.

In Brief

Researchers from Japan suggest that life on Earth may have originated not in open water but in sticky gel films on mineral and soil surfaces. These natural “mini-laboratories” concentrated molecules, stabilized environmental conditions, and provided a scaffold for the first biochemical reactions. The hypothesis offers a new perspective on the origin of life and suggests looking for similar gels on other planets.