What Was the Ancestor of Everything?

The video explores the origins of life, focusing on the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). It discusses the limitations of fossils in tracing life's origins and introduces LUCA as a common ancestor. The video highlights Carl Woese's discovery of archaea and the RNA world hypothesis. It also covers research on minimal genomes and recent genomic insights, including the two-branch model of the tree of life, suggesting LUCA may have lived in hydrothermal vents.

What evidence suggests that Luca lived in hydrothermal vents?

How do genes evolve over time and what implications does this have for understanding Luca?

What are the different models proposed for the nature of Luca?

Why is the search for Luca considered a significant quest in natural history?