Life in the universe: Towards an understanding of its origin

A general review is presented in which we select some aspects of the origin of the cosmos, chemical evolution and, finally, the origin and the evolution of life on Earth. We emphasize the topic of molecular relics with particular attention to the relevance of the chirality of amino acids and nucleic acids. We conclude with a discussion of the primordial RNA world and with some preliminary ideas on the question of whether it is possible to detect relics of the RNA world, other than chirality itself. (author). 27 refs, 4 figs, 2 tabs