The Birth of Cells at Hydrothermal Vents

Hydrothermal vents in deep ocean rifts have generated a lot of excitement as the starting place for life on our planet. Hydrothermal vents represent a dynamic environment which would favor the formation of organic compounds, the “molecules of life,” using simple chemicals in the early oceans. Most recently, scientists have gained insight into the creation of the cell membrane—a structure common to all life forms. Hydrothermal vents may be present in the oceans of moons or rocky planets in our solar system, for example Europa and Enceladus, raising the possibility that life may have started there too.
References:
Promotion of protocell self-assembly from mixed amphiphiles at the origin of life
Sean F Jordan, Hanadi Rammu, Ivan N Zheludev, Andrew M Hartley, Amandine Maréchal, Nick Lane
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4155...

CO2 reduction driven by a pH gradient
Reuben Hudson, Ruvan de Graaf, Mari Strandoo Rodin, Aya Ohno, Nick Lane, Shawn E. McGlynn, Yoichi M. A. Yamada, Ryuhei Nakamura, Laura M. Barge, Dieter Braun, and Victor Sojo.
https://www.pnas.org/content/117/37/2...

A mild hydrothermal route to fix carbon dioxide to simple carboxylic acids
Chao He, Ge Tian, Ziwei Liu, Shouhua Feng
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ol90...

For Further reading:
The Vital Question. Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life
by Nick Lane
https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Vital-...