title: Suitable microscopic entropy for the origin of microbial life: microbiological methods are challenges.
abstract: A hypothesis is proposed that the first living microbial cell(s) on Earth assembled about 3.6-4 billion years ago when an environmental microscopic entropy (balance between order and disorder; suitable amount of randomness) was within a range suitable for the origin of microbial cell(s) in a hydrogel environment. An earlier origin of microbial life was not possible as the elements, molecules and entropy conditions necessary for life were not available at the microscopic level. Methodology limitations to study postulated past origin of microbial life events and to mimic these events in the laboratory, are still obstacles to understanding the origin of life.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1. jtrevors@uoguelph.ca
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Trevors
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology; D019277:Entropy; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D008853:Microscopy; D000069497:Origin of Life