The findings of Pasteur and others have established that
◦ living organisms regularly self-assemble (arise spontaneously) from nonliving matter.
◦ life does not arise from nonliving matter today, but in the conditions of early Earth, such an event could have occurred.
◦ living organisms do not arise from nonliving matter today, nor did they arise from nonlife in the past.
◦ advanced organisms cannot arise from nonliving matter, but simple microbial life often does arise from nonlife today.