Aqueous suspensions of microspheres were infused around gels of varying composition. The solutes were excluded from zones on the order of 100 μm from the gel surface. We present evidence that this finding is not an artifact, and that solute-repulsion forces exist at distances far greater than conventional theory predicts. The observations imply that solutes may interact over an unexpectedly long range.

We here examine the putative first step in the origin of life: the coalescence of dispersed molecules into a more condensed, organized state. Fresh evidence implies that the driving energy for this coalescence may come in a manner more direct than previously thought. The sun’s radiant energy separates charge in water, and this free charge demonstrably induces condensation. This condensation mechanism puts water as a central protagonist in life rather than as an incidental participant, and thereby helps explain why life requires water.