- Primordial atmosphere + ocean + heat + lightning = amino acids
- Autocatalysis: enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of itself
- Origin of hereditary: replication + variation = competition = selection
- Protein: any 3d shape by chemical affinities of amino acids - good at being enzymes
- DNA: double helix - good at preserving sequence, being copied, and error proofing
- RNA: lack self-pairing of complementary chain - pair with bits of itself - versatile mix of both