How inevitable was the origin of life on Earth? (from This Week in Evolution)

MAJIKTHISE:
Seven-and-a-half million years? What are you talking about?

DEEP THOUGHT:
I said I'd have to think about it didn't I? And it occurs to me, that running a program like this is bound to cause sensational public interest.

Evolutionary biologists mainly study how life has diversified and changed or how it is diversifying and changing, rather than how it originated. But I thought this article was really interesting. "Chance or necessity? Bioenergetics and the probability of life", published in ... School Laptop Wifi