Terms to know: Oparin-Haldane model, RNA-world, self-replication

Questions:

1. What is the RNA-world hypothesis?  What lines of reasoning  suggest this hypothesis?  How can this hypothesis be tested in the laboratory?  Has it been tested?  What are the results of such tests? To which step in the Oparin-Haldane model is this information relevant?
2. Compare the properties of RNA, described in the discussion of the RNA-world hypothesis, to properties of DNA and proteins (two other candidates for the first replicating molecule) and explain why RNA is a more likely candidate for the first self-replicating molecule than either DNA or protein.
3. What would an "RNA-dependent-RNA autoreplicase" be?  Has one been discovered?  What would be the relevance of this molecule to the origin of life on earth?
4. According to the Oparin-Haldane model, what are the three  steps that must have occurred in the origin of life on earth?
5. Describe Stanley Miller's experiments. What conditions did Miller create?  How?  What substances were produced?  What is the relevance of these experiments with regard to the origin of life on earth?  For which step of the Oparin-Haldane theory do Miller's experiments provide evidence?  What more recent information casts doubt on the relevance of Miller's experiments to the origin of life?  What are other possible ways that this step in the Oparin-Haldane model could have come about?
6. Assuming that life originated from non-life on earth, what are different possible sources of organic molecules on the early earth?  Discuss evidence for and against each as a possible source of the original molecules that provided the basis for the origination of life.
7. What is a biological polymer?  What is the major problem that could have prevented formation of biological polymers in the "pre-biotic soup."  How did Ferris et al. simulate a situation that could overcome this problem?  Is this situation likely to have existed during the time that life was developing from non-life on earth? To which step in the Oparin-Haldane model is this information relevant?
8. For each of the three steps in the Oparin-Haldane model, clearly describe experimental evidence that suggests a way in which the step could have occurred.  Then evaluate the evidence by addressing the following questions: (a) are there problems with it (reasons it may not be good evidence that the step could have occurred), and (b) does the evidence overcome problems (previous experimental or logical difficulties with this step in the Oparin-Haldane model)?
9. What are aspects of life whose origin has not been explained by the Oparin-Haldane model?  What explanations have been proposed for the origin of some of these aspects of life?