Part 4/9:
Understanding how these energy-generating systems emerged is crucial for unraveling life's beginnings. The speaker highlights a compelling hypothesis involving hydrothermal vents—specifically, mineralized pores resembling simple cells—forming in Earth's early oceans. These structures could have supported electrochemical gradients and catalytic reactions essential for life. In particular, metal minerals like iron sulfide and nickel sulfide, abundant in these environments, might have facilitated the formation of organic molecules by reacting CO₂ with hydrogen, powered by electrochemical potentials across mineral barriers.