A pile of metal, wires, and computer chips will not assemble itself into a working airplane. The parts may have useful properties, but they still need plans, controls, and an ordered process of assembly as well as someone to assemble them all. The same problem applies to claims about the origin of life. Researcher Yongdong Jin has proposed that tiny mineral particles, called nanozymes, may have helped life arise on what conventional scientists would call the “early” earth.¹

Nanozymes are very small particles that can act somewhat like enzymes, which speed up chemical reactions within living things. Jin suggests these minerals might have captured energy, protected fragile compounds, and helped form some of life’s basic molecules.¹ A journal press release states this idea may unite several older theories about how life began.²

These mineral traits are worth studying. Mineral surfaces hold chemicals, while catalysts reduce the energy needed for a reaction and thus accelerate the reaction. Scientists can test and observe these effects in the laboratory. Still, a catalyst does not choose a useful result, write instructions, inspect products, or place parts in the proper order. It only speeds up a reaction that chemistry already allows.

An assembly line illustrates this disparity. A factory may contain steel, tools, power, and high-speed machines, but they won’t produce something as complex as a wind turbine by themselves. The factory needs blueprints, timing, quality checks, and control systems. Greater speed without proper control may simply produce mistakes more quickly.

A living cell faces the same need for control. DNA stores instructions in a coded sequence. Molecular machines read those instructions and build proteins. Other systems move materials, manage energy, detect errors, and repair damage. A cell membrane keeps these parts together and carefully controls what enters or leaves. All these systems must operate in a coordinated way.

Jin’s paper recognizes that many parts would need to work together and suggests that minerals and organic molecules became linked through chemical evolution.¹ Yet the paper does not demonstrate how unguided reactions formed a code, a code-reading system, and an accurate copying system . . . all at the same time. Other researchers have also noted that no single origin-of-life model explains the full transition from chemistry to biology.^3,4 Thus, Jin’s conclusion is plagued by system and control problems, not merely chemistry problems.

What can be done in a laboratory is not always what happens outside of it. Laboratory tests depend on selected chemicals, planned procedures, and controlled conditions. Such experiments show what skilled researchers can make chemicals do, but they don’t indicate that an unguided environment built the first living cell.

Nanozymes may help scientists understand the role of catalysts more clearly. However, they do not close the gap between simple chemistry and a living cell. Life displays ordered parts, stored instructions, and linked systems. These observable traits are consistent with the workmanship of a wise creator. As Scripture says, “O LORD, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all” (Psalm 104:24).

References

1. Jin, Y. 2025. On the Origin of Life on Earth: The Nanozymes Hypothesis, and More. Research. 8, article 1025.
2. The Nanozymes Hypothesis of the Origin of Life (on Earth) Proposed. EurekAlert! Posted on eurekalert.org February 24, 2026.
3. Preiner, M. et al. 2020. The Future of Origin of Life Research: Bridging Decades-Old Divisions. Life. 10 (3): 20.
4. Thaxton, C. et al. 2020. The Mystery of Life’s Origin: The Continuing Controversy, 2nd ed. Seattle, WA: Discovery Institute Press.

* Dr. Corrado earned a Ph.D. in systems engineering from Colorado State University and a Th.M. from Liberty University. He is a freelance contributor to ICR’s Creation Science Update, works in the nuclear industry, and is a Captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve.