title: The origins of life: old problems, new chemistries.
abstract: Synthetic life: the origin of life on the early Earth, and the ex novo transition of non-living matter to artificial living systems are deep scientific challenges that provide a context for the development of new chemistries with unknown technological consequences. This Essay attempts to re-frame some of the epistemological difficulties associated with these questions into an integrative framework of proto-life science. Chemistry is at the heart of this endeavour.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Organized Matter Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK. s.mann@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mann
mesh_terms: D000069497:Origin of Life; D058615:Synthetic Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends