Editing Openai/686aedb2-60b0-8003-98a8-e1766cf496a6 (section)

===== Support for his stance =====
* Better pre-biotic syntheses. Sutherland’s team has now extended one-pot routes to both purine and pyrimidine ribonucleotides and to lipid–RNA co-synthesis, mitigating the “too complex” objection. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov<ref>{{cite web|title=pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov|url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10351881/|publisher=pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov|access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref>
* Non-enzymatic replication strides. 2024 modelling and bench work from the Szostak and Georgia Tech groups show template copying of 4-base mixed sequences assisted by activated oligonucleotides and “NERPE” primer-extension platforms, directly attacking the fidelity problem Bernhardt flagged. biorxiv.org<ref>{{cite web|title=biorxiv.org|url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.07.17.603910v1.full.pdf|publisher=biorxiv.org|access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref>ssdl.gatech.edu<ref>{{cite web|title=ssdl.gatech.edu|url=https://ssdl.gatech.edu/2024/01/31/nerpe-non-enzymatic-rna-primer-extension/|publisher=ssdl.gatech.edu|date=2024-01-31|access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref>
* Nucleotide-bias overcome. A 2025 NAR paper reports near-uniform copying yields for A- and U-rich templates by tweaking leaving groups – progress Bernhardt predicted was possible. academic.oup.com<ref>{{cite web|title=academic.oup.com|url=https://academic.oup.com/nar/article/52/22/13515/7893325|publisher=academic.oup.com|access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref>

Challenges / new wrinkles
* RNA-peptide world. Experiments generating peptide-decorated RNA chimeras under plausible pre-biotic conditions suggest a hybrid stage, partly vindicating “co-evolution” advocates and softening Bernhardt’s dismissal of peptides-first. nature.com<ref>{{cite web|title=nature.com|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04676-3|publisher=nature.com|access-date=2025-11-16}}</ref>
* Proteins-first phylogenetics continues. Caetano-Anollés’ camp keeps publishing protein-centric trees; they have not disproved RNA-first, but the debate has broadened rather than closed.

Overall, none of the post-2012 data decisively overturn Bernhardt’s critiques; most reinforce his view that RNA-world weaknesses are being eroded experimentally.