The origins of life stands among the great open scientific questions of our time. While a number of proposals exist for possible starting points in the pathway from non-living to living matter, these have so far not achieved states of complexity that are anywhere near that of even the simplest living systems. A key challenge is identifying the properties of living matter that might distinguish living and non-living physical systems such that we might build new life in the lab. This review is geared towards covering major viewpoints on the origin of life for those new to the origin of life field, with a forward look towards considering what it might take for a physical theory that universally explains the phenomenon of life to arise from the seemingly disconnected array of ideas proposed thus far. The hope is that a theory akin to our other theories in fundamental physics might one day emerge to explain the phenomenon of life, and in turn finally permit solving its origins.

中文翻译：

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生命的起源：物理学的一个问题，一个关键问题评论

生命的起源是我们这个时代重大的开放科学问题之一。尽管存在许多关于从无生命物质到有生命物质的途径的可能起点的提议，但迄今为止，这些提议还没有达到与最简单的生命系统相近的复杂状态。一个关键的挑战是确定可能区分生命和非生命物理系统的生命物质的特性，以便我们可以在实验室中建立新生命。这篇综述旨在为那些对生命起源领域不熟悉的人介绍生命起源的主要观点，并前瞻性地考虑一个物理理论可能需要什么来普遍解释生命现象从看似不连贯的事物中产生迄今为止提出的一系列想法。