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On the Origin of Life on Earth, and Something of Its History

On the Origin of Life on Earth, and Something of Its History

Last updated on: September 4, 2026 at 10:53 pm by Dan Peterson

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On the Origin of Life on Earth, and Something of Its History 2026-09-04T22:53:26-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A Wikimedia Commons public domain image of Mendenhall Glacier and Mendenhall Lake, near Juneau, Alaska

An editor’s introduction appeared today in Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 69 (2026) : vii-xvi, under the title of “Glaciers, Plant Succession, and the Sheer Wonder of It All” and written by one Daniel C. Peterson:

Abstract: According to current scientific understanding, our universe began in an inconceivable explosion of both space and time. And yet the laws that govern it took immediate effect, eventually governing the formation of galaxies and stars, the orbits of the planets, and even the colonization of sterile rock by lichens. If all this isn’t cause for wonder, it’s difficult to imagine what would be. Happily, the restored gospel promises us an unlimited future of learning, exploration, and, well, admiration.

This is the Church History Library in Salt Lake City (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

On the second and final day (today) of our second biannual Interpreter Journal Development Conference, my wife and I joined the managing editor of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship, as well as its three executive editors, two source checkers, three copy editors, Kyler Rasmussen (who creates our Interpreting Interpreter materials), our typesetter, and the webmaster of the Interpreter Foundation for a nearly two-hour tour of the Church History Library. It was quite interesting. The Church has invested considerable sums of money and a lot of effort into preserving the records and artifacts of its past, and it uses the very best practices and technologies available for that purpose.

“Behold,” says a revelation given to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “there shall be a record kept among you.” The command comes at Doctrine and Covenants 21:1, which was received on 6 April 1830, the very day on which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized in the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. in Fayette, New York.

The Interpreter Journal Development Conference continued after lunch, but my wife and I were obliged to leave immediately after the tour of the Church History Library. We had a long-planned trip to Moab to undertake, so we picked up a member of our family (whose identity and specific relationship to me I am withholding here so as to protect him or her from the tender ministrations of some of my more severely obsessed critics) and headed southward.

The Colorado River, near Moab, Utah (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

It’s good to be here in Moab. This is, of course, the real Moab, after which the Old Testament wannabe — located in today’s Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as a tourist attraction — is named.

This is the most beautiful place on earth. There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary. A houseboat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near the Hoboken waterfront, or even, possibly, for those of a less demanding sensibility, the world to be seen from a comfortable apartment high in the tender, velvety smog of Manhattan, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Rio or Rome—there’s no limit to the human capacity for the homing sentiment. Theologians, sky pilots, astronauts have even felt the appeal of home calling to them from up above, in the cold black outback of interstellar space. For myself I’ll take Moab, Utah. I don’t mean the town itself, of course, but the country which surrounds it—the canyonlands. The slickrock desert. The red dust and the burnt cliffs and the lonely sky—all that which lies beyond the end of the roads.” (Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire)

We arrived as early evening was beginning to settle in and had some wonderful views of the against the gloaming of the cliffs that surround the town. We were just a bit too late and a bit too tired to do much upon our arrival. Had tonight’s moon been full, we would certainly have entered into Arches National Park today, but it’s a waning crescent moon this evening, and such a moon sheds only a little light. We did, however, go to our favorite restaurant here, Thai Bella. Once again, it didn’t disappoint. (This is a character defect, I know: I’ve already admitted that I eat food virtually every day of the year, and I’ll frankly concede that, on the whole, if I’m going to eat, I prefer good food to bad food. Pretty shameful, but there it is.)

Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope. The Earth-orbiting Hubble telescope snapped this picture at a time when Mars was approximately 43 million miles (68 million km) from Earth – its closest approach to our planet since 1988. Hubble can see details as small as 10 miles (16 km) across. Especially striking is the large amount of seasonal dust storm activity seen in this image. One large storm system is churning high above the northern polar cap [top of image], and a smaller dust storm cloud can be seen nearby. Another large duststorm is spilling out of the giant Hellas impact basin in the Southern Hemisphere [lower right]. Acknowledgements: J. Bell (Cornell U.), P. James (U. Toledo), M. Wolff (Space Science Institute), A. Lubenow (STScI), J. Neubert (MIT/Cornell)

The origin of life on our planet continues to be quite unclear and vexatious, and promising theories have often proven to conflict with improving data. Thus, this interesting recent article: “Leading Theory For How Life on Earth Began Is ‘Highly Unlikely’, Says Contentious New Paper”

But consider this absolutely fascinating essay by Erik Hoel, of Tufts University in Massachusetts: “Mars could hold the secrets to the origins of life: Potential biosignatures strengthen case for new Mars mission”

Posted from Moab, Utah

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