Module 1 (The Theories About the Origin of Life)

• is the theory of special creation proposes that life on earth is created by a supernatural power, the God.

  Divine Creation Theory
• is the theory of spontaneous generation or abiogenesis assumes that non-living material in a spontaneous manner gives rise to life.

  Abiogenesis Theory (Spontaneous Generation Theory)
• In Biogenesis Theory, Lazzaro Spallanzani, Francisco Redi, and Louis Pasteur performed well-designed scientific experiments to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation.
• he did not believe that life originated from non-living matter

  Francisco Redi
• This theory was put forward by Richter and strongly supported by Arrhenius. 


  Theory of Cosmozoic
• Theory of Cosmozoic assumes that life was present in the form of resistant spores and appeared on Earth from another planet.
• Theory of Cosmozoic is also known as Theory of Panspermia or Apore Theory.
• The theory of Cosmozoic was initially supported by the fact that fossils of microorganisms were found in meteorites in 1961.
• This is the extension of the theory of special creation.

  Theory of Catastrophism
• This theory assumes that life originated by creation and is followed by catastrophe due to geographical disturbances.

  Theory of Catastrophism
• This theory assumes that life has no beginning or end. It believes that life has always existed and will continue to be so.

  Theory of Eternal of Life
• Theory of Eternal Life is also known as Steady State Theory.
• The main objection against the theory of eternal life is that it could not explain evidence supporting the formation of Earth, and then life appeared on it.
• This theory believes that ALL LIVING ORGANISMS WERE CREATED ON THE SAME DAY (NO DIFFERENCE IN THEIR APPEARANCE); THEY WERE CREATED IN THE PRESENT FORM (NO EVOLUTION); THEIR BODIES AND ORGANS ARE FULLY DEVELOPED TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS TO RUN LIFE.

  Divine Creation Theory
• What are the objections to the theory of special creation?

  It was purely based on religious beliefs, there were no experimental evidence to support the assumptions, and the age of different fossils proves that living organisms appear on Earth in different time frames.
• What are the several observations that supported the theory of Abiogenesis Theory?

  1. The hair of a horse tail dipped in the water gives rise to a horsehair worm, Gordius.
  2. Fly larvae develop on rotten meat
  3. In ancient Egypt, it was believed that frogs, snakes, and crocodiles in mud of the Nile River warmed with the sun. Van Helmort claimed that he could produce mice from the dirty shirt and handful of wheat grains kept in a dark cupboard in 3 weeks
• He made an experiment to prove that life originated from pre-existing life.

  Francisco Redi
• He constructed his experiment by placing broth in each of the two separate bottle. He boiled the broth in both bottles for a long period of time at a high temperature. Then, he sealed one bottle and left the other bottle open.

  Lazarro Spallanzani
• In Spallanzani's experiment, the unsealed bottle has the presence of microbial growth because it was exposed while the sealed bottle has no sign of any microbial growth.
• Lazarro Spallanzani concluded that a longer heating period and high temperature boiling had killed all microorganisms, life could not appear like what happened in the sealed bottle of his experiment.
• Louis Pasteur is known as the father of modern biology. His experiments proved that life cannot originate from nonliving matter. In his experiment, he placed nutrient solution into flasks which have been sterilized by heat. The flasks were then opened and closed again. After some days, only the flasks that were never opened showed signs of fermentation. This means that air contains microbes that can cause fermentation.
• In Redi's experiment, 3 jars were used with meat inside; uncovered, covered with gauze, and covered. After several days, jar no. 1 had flies and maggots, jar no. 2 had flies and maggots in the gauze, and jar no. 3 had no presence of flies and maggots, Redi suggested that life did not originate from non-living matter (meat), but instead from a living matter like the flies who laid eggs which eventually turned to maggots.
• Louis Pasteur used a swan neck flask in his experiment.
• Each catastrophe destroyed life completely, whereas each creation forms life differently from the previous one. Hence, each round of catastrophe/creation is responsible for the evolvement of different types of organisms on Earth. The criticism of the current theory is the same as the previous one. No scientific experiment to support the hypothesis and most are based on imaginary concepts.

  Theory of Catastrophism