How life may have first emerged on Earth

I came across something that I think about constantly, and am still baffled at the thought. Our existence on earth, us humans, how exactly did we get on earth, what put us here? Some believe we evolved from apes, chimpanzees, etc.  but how did apes, chimpanzees and other such monkeys get on earth? Those that believe in certain religions feel that the gods, and higher powers put us on earth. Me, well I believe its all scientific, even though evolution is scientific I feel that theres a lot more to it, then just that of it being science.

Professor Michael Blaber and his team may have discovered something through his three year study, to better help us all understand where and how life began on earth. Him and his team came up with data that supported the hypothesis that 10 amino acids that may have existed on earth around 4 billion years ago were capable of forming foldable proteins in a high-salt environment. Halophiles are known as microorganisms that live and grow in high salt content environments. According to Think quest the saline (salt) content in a halophilic environment is 10 times that of the saline content in ocean water. These organisms use many alcohols, sugars, and amino acids to contain the salt content inside the cell. These halophiles were the beginning of life on earth, tiny microorganisms that can replicate.
What makes this article How life may have first emerged on earth so interesting is that it deals with a lot of information I'm studying about in my genetics class. Blaber stated "The current paradigm on the emergence of life is that RNA came first and in a high-temperature environment," but he does explain that based on the data of his study its much more in "favor" that proteins came first in a halophile environment. Due to the amino acids found in Blaber's study, he can prove that proteins came before RNA, because of the complex folding of proteins done by amino acids. He also believes that the origin of life did not start with a halophilic environment, better yet living organisms just adapted to it. Michael says  "Our study of the prebiotic amino acids and protein design and folding suggests the opposite."

The folding of proteins is incredibly important, because it allows for those proteins to link with other proteins, it allows folding to occur for essential structures that help organisms function. For example, DNA is made of proteins, if those proteins could not fold, or connect with other proteins than DNA wouldn't exist, and neither would living organisms. Proteins that are made of amino acids are crucial for humans to carry oxygen to our cells, our ability to move our muscles, and also our genetic make up (Importance of Proteins).

Comet and Meteorite fragments that were found in Russia's Ural Mountain region predate earth, and shows that the 10 prebiotic amino acids are in the formation of our solar system. When the earth passes through loose fields of debris from comets, and a ton of other fragments, meteor showers occur (Comet and Meteorite Fragments in Russia's Ural Mountains ). This would explain how these amino acids were shown to be in the formation of our solar system, and help Michael Blaber with his study about the existence of life on earth. 

Our bodies use approximately 20 amino acids, and 10 of those are the prebiotic amino acids that may be the reason for our existence on earth. The time frame of these amino acids (3.5-3.9 billion years ago), earths conditions, and atmosphere (salty oceans (halophilic), hot, steamy atmosphere without oxygen) at this time frame help to prove the emergence of life on earth.
Blaber and his lab use a technique called "top-down symmetric deconstruction"to see if these small spontaneous building blocks can be composed of ONLY the 10 prebiotic amino acids, and still fold. If Blaber can show this happens, then its very likely to believe that life on earth emerged from a halophilic environment, where many scientists will have to go back and redirect there study's to the proteins as a first view of life on earth.

How exactly did we emerge on earth? How did anything emerge on earth? These will still remain questions that hurt my brain from thinking so much, being so curious, and even confused about it. Michaels study seems to be on the right track and I couldn't be more interested in it. His team is very lucky to be a part of something like that, so big, so questionable, but also very much on the right track to a successfully proven hypothesis. 

REFERENCES:
http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0003986112002652-fx1.jpg
http://questgarden.com/76/45/9/090210180935/images/earth.jpg
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/03/07/tagishlake-article-2012-nasa-s_wide-3fbce255b99c784cd4d7659391138b442cee240f-s6-c10.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NknVO7Adu0w/ScI6tvhA8fI/AAAAAAAAGK8/RAfmQhpVVLw/s400/04_02.jpg
http://www.fsu.edu