Regarding the different families of life, its not really surprising. I remember reading years ago about the idea that life originated many times on earth but it was only our form of life that won the game. Wonder what else could have formed if it wasn't our brand of life that had won.
I always thought that theists by this point in time should have stopped trying to battle against the idea of Abiogenesis and instead say "Ah, but way do chemicals behave this way?.... Because that is how God made the universe work". They can probably then live with position for centuries or even millennia or maybe forever(!) before we can answer that one with science.
The most fascinating thing for me about Abiogenesis is that it really does point to a high probability of life forming all over the universe as long as the right combination of chemicals are present in the right environment.... and that is just for our sort of life. Who knows what may form under other conditions? It may be the potential for life exists anywhere where there is a combination of energy and matter to make things "stick together".
I always thought that theists by this point in time should have stopped trying to battle against the idea of Abiogenesis and instead say "Ah, but way do chemicals behave this way?.... Because that is how God made the universe work". They can probably then live with position for centuries or even millennia or maybe forever(!) before we can answer that one with science.
The most fascinating thing for me about Abiogenesis is that it really does point to a high probability of life forming all over the universe as long as the right combination of chemicals are present in the right environment.... and that is just for our sort of life. Who knows what may form under other conditions? It may be the potential for life exists anywhere where there is a combination of energy and matter to make things "stick together".
A finite number of monkeys with a finite number of typewriters and a finite amount of time could eventually reproduce 4chan.
