The nature of the earliest forms of life on our planet are unknown and may remain that way, but we keep coming closer to understanding what they may have been like. Whatever they were like, it seems clear that they arose out of a process of molecular self-assembly. This process is commonplace in our universe. If you look up into the night sky, you’ll see countless stars and galaxies which arose spontaneously by a process of self-assembly. Read Article: Abiogenesis, the Nature of Life, and Entropy