Question

With which of the following claims would the authors of Passages 1 and 2 most likely both agree?

• A. Life arose on Earth from non-living organic compounds.
• B. Earths environment is uniquely conducive to the formation of organic compounds.
• C. Earth is certainly not the only planet on which life exists.
• D. Life on Earth could only have begun with an RNA world.

Answer 1

The correct option is A Life arose on Earth from non-living organic compounds.

The author of passage 1 claims that "the DNA and RNA molecules, made up of nucleic and amino acids... once synthesized in the early Earth's oceans, could have become organized into self-replicating structures that developed into life as we know it."

The author of passage 2 claims that abiogenesis might have taken place on Earth at the primitive stages of the formation of universe through the replication of organic compounds, which were non-living:

"A number of studies have found that certain organic molecules, called PAHs... These molecules, made up of rings of carbon and hydrogen, have structures that might allow them to help RNA strands self-assemble in the oceans of planets...these molecules... may have formed shortly after the universe began."

Hence, both passages agree on the fact that life arose on Earth from non-living organic compounds and Option A is correct.

The rest of the options are neither mentioned nor implied in the passages. Hence they're incorrect.