Quote:

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At first glance, the RNA world hypothesis seems implausible because, in today's world, large RNA molecules are inherently fragile and can easily be broken down into their constituent nucleotides with hydrolysis. Even without hydrolysis RNA will eventually break down from background radiation. (Pääbo 1993, Lindahl 1993).

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http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/RNA%20world%20hypothesis


They mention, as a solution, the synthetic-only PNA molecule.

The website I got the quote in the post above this from is wikipedia. But unfortunately I found it through google and can't remember what I typed in to get that specific entry. Hang on...

Duh, here it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_life

I kept searching for biogenesis instead of origin of life, which is why I couldn't find it.

Quote:

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Hydrolysis is a chemical process in which a molecule is cleaved into two parts by the addition of a molecule of water. [...] In the discussion below, the focus is on hydrolysis of organic compounds, but one should bear in mind that there are also many well known examples of inorganic hydrolysis.

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Quote:

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Do I understand right that now not thermodynamics, not oxygen, not UV rays, but enzymes killed the early peptids?

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Well, technically thermodynamics don't do anything. Its just an explanation of why (not how) pretty much everything happens in the universe.

Ultraviolet rays are dangerous, but won't do anything to pre-life in the water. That's why I mentioned hydrolysis.

Thermodynamics only comes into the picture explaining the flow of energy that causes the molecules to break down into simpler forms. Not the cause of the energy, of course, which you seem to think I'm saying. But that's besides the point.