For millennia, humans havecontemplated the origins of life.

Historically,concepts such as spontaneous generation were accepted by some Europeans,which suggested housefliesarose from decomposing matter andaphids emergedfrom dewdroplets. Today, these thoughts are consigned to the past; instead,advancements in genetics providecontemporary insight into how the tree of lifegerminated. These discoveries are important, for they provide an opportunity to view what processes may have initiated the
molecular make-up of organic structures that are even more ancient than our most distant biological forebearers; and a humble

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Being picky, but I dont really like this last sentence here because its not that the evolutionary tree (or establishing the presence of DNA) shows us what processes allowed the tree to diverge into so many branches, so much as it proves that all these seemingly disparate life forms are actually related. Discovering and describing the processes that cause this, as you know much better than I, is much different.
opportunity to remind us of our place in the natural world.

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Living organisms are made of cells, which consist of an outer membrane that encloses a soup-like fluid, or cytoplasm, ofspecialised structures that enable the cell to function. At the centre of many cell types is the nucleus, which contains genetic material, or DNA, that is inherited from your parents; this genetic code determines your characteristics. Resembling a spiral-staircase, a DNA strand is a long molecular chain consisting of a sugar-phosphate framework, which supports a sequence of paired struts, or bases, that always join to form either an A-T or a C-G configuration. The combinations of these base-pairs are important because they are interpreted by RNA (a molecule associated with DNA), which can replicate and translate the code into a sequence of amino acids, the raw ingredients of proteins. Proteins are the building blocks of life, forming cellular structures, enzymes, hormones, and so on;sothesemolecular processes are drivers for assembling the bodies of plants and animals. The arrangement of base-pair struts on the genetic-ladder, however, can change, such asthroughsexual reproduction or mutation; this alters the nature of the subsequent proteins that are formed, which can change the characteristics of an individual organism, leading to variation within species and hence provide opportunities for Natural natural Selectionselection. According to the fossil record, the ancestors of modern humans were living in the Great Rift Valley around2.4 million years ago; the predecessors of the first flowering plants sprouted during the early Cretaceous, 130 million years ago; primitive jawless fishes left their first records in rock strata in the ancient Cambrian seas,a little over 530 million years ago; and the first records of any cellular lifeform date from around 3.5 billion years ago.Venture even further back in time and you enter the realm of organic molecules, some of which assembled to form the first cells. Although it is DNA that now stores the genetic information, itis accepted by many scientists that RNA arose first due to its simpler structure. These early RNAs would haveinteracted with other proto-molecules, eventually leading to the development of DNA, in an ancient aquatic system the so called primordial soup. Once enveloped by a membrane, these ancient biochemical structures would have functioned like a primitive cell. Since the structure of DNA was discovered in 1953, ample research has been conducted on its behavior.This has included changing the paired-base sequences to observe any outcomes in the subsequent proteins that form.Recently, however(I dont think you mean however here, since I cant see how your point is running counter to the line of thinking youve thus far elucidated), a paper in the journal Science provides fascinating new evidence (OF WHAT?), which may take us a step closer to this dawn of life.

The UK Medical Research Council's Laboratory of Molecular Biology has manipulated the sugarphosphate backbone that supports DNA. These trials involved synthesizingxeno-nucleic acids, or XNAs, which are similar to DNA or RNA, yet have a modified sugar-phosphate framework. The strutlike base pairs, however, were not altered, allowing the XNA to interact and link-up with organic DNA or RNA. In order to syntherisise proteins, normal DNA is unfastened by an enzyme called polymerases, which allows the RNA to transcribe the DNA code for protein production. However, the Research Councils Laboratory has developed a polymerases enzyme that can work with both DNA and XNA to determine the sequence of proteins.This is an example of synthetic genetics that can exhibit hereditary behavior in the laboratory, rather than in living organisms. This research shows that the biochemistry that characterise DNA can be altered and that the molecule still behaves in the same manner. This suggests that other molecules could have behaved in a similar wayto RNA or DNA when the primeval earth was devoid of life.These ancient molecules had the ability to pass genetic information from one generation to the next, by replicating one another; during the replication, however, there were occasional changes in the code, caused by radiation or chemicals, which would lead to variation within the molecular community. This is Darwinian evolution in its most fundamental form: Passing information from one generation to the next, with the inclusion of mutations to give rise to variation most mutations are disadvantageous, yet occasionally they are beneficial, and will be expressed, allowing for Natural natural Selectionselection. These discoveries not only contribute to advances in genetics and biotechnology; they demonstrate how the fundamental components of all organisms bacteria, oak trees, mushrooms, centipedes or humans can exists separate from biological systems, providing evidence for how proto-organic structures may have behaved prior to the development of the first cells, which provide a stable biochemical environment. Furthermore, these advances support the concept of Natural natural Selectionselection, and the complex, stunningly beautifully and elegant mechanisms that have enabled the great progression of life to diverge and diversify throughout the history of our earth.