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Leslie Orgel, RNA World Theorist Dies

Oct 31, 2007

The Salk Institute's Leslie Orgel, the theoretical chemist who proposed that RNA could have been the orginal bearer of genetic information, died last Saturday from pancreatic cancer. Along with Francis Crick, Orgel suggested extraterrestrials seeded life on Earth through panspermia, though there is inadequate evidence for this idea. Orgel was also known for his Second Rule, which says, "Evolution is cleverer than you are." Orgel was 80.

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