Abstract: Life is both a product and a driver of evolutionary processes. In extant life forms, reproduction with heritable variation, which is essential for Darwinian evolution, relies on intricate mechanisms that themselves arose through evolution. This complexity makes it challenging to conceptualize life and to understand its origins. I will present our efforts to define and analyze simple physical models with evolutionary features as a means to clarify the minimal requirements for life-like properties.

By: Olivier RIVOIRE (ESPCI, Paris)