Biologist Rowan Hooper contends that conventional views of nature have been too narrow by centering on separate organisms. Shifting focus to symbiotic unions provides a fresh understanding of how life on Earth and potentially elsewhere originated. All visible living things exist thanks to partnerships across species. Lichens and corals illustrate this, yet symbiosis extends much further and deeper. Hooper’s book Togetherness argues that symbiosis, or living together, has been overlooked in biology and ecology. Recognizing its importance helps explain human identity and evolutionary history. Complex life arose through ancient cellular symbiosis, while plants depend on such partnerships for growth and food production. Evolution has long been framed around competition, but symbiosis deserves equal emphasis. This approach illuminates one of science’s oldest questions: the start of life. It may redefine life itself and shape searches for alien organisms. Darwin once speculated about life’s start in a warm pond, an idea now seen as improbable. Current research highlights deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where rock pores resemble cells and electrochemical gradients could fuel early reactions. Biochemist Nick Lane explains that vent interiors offer charged surfaces and steady flows to drive processes. These concepts draw from earlier thinkers like Haeckel, Schrödinger, Woese, Dyson and Margulis, who proposed metabolic protocells merging with genetic systems through symbiosis-like events. Labs now test these models by recreating vent-like settings to form protocells.
