RECENT THEORETICAL WORK SUGGESTS THAT AN EARLY STEP IN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE WAS THE EMERGENCE OF ENSEMBLES OF CHEMICALS THAT INTERACTED WITH ONE ANOTHER TO COLLECTIVELY PROPAGATE: IN THE PRESENCE OF REPLENISHING INPUTS OF CHEMICAL PRECURSORS (FOOD) AND ENERGY ALL CHEMICALS IN THE ENSEMBLE ARE PRODUCED BY THE ACTIONS OF OTHER CHEMICALS IN THE ENSEMBLE. FURTHERMORE ADVANCES IN EVOLUTIONARY THEORY SUGGEST THAT IF THESE INTERACTING MOLECULAR ENSEMBLES WERE SPATIALLY STRUCTURED FOR EXAMPLE BY BEING ADSORBED ONTO THE SURFACES OF SUBMERGED MINERALS THEY WOULD BE LIKELY TO EVOLVE ADAPTIVELY. SPECIFICALLY A PROCESS CALLED NEIGHBORHOOD SELECTION WOULD TEND TO ENRICH FOR ENSEMBLES WITH PROGRESSIVELY IMPROVED ABILITIES TO COLONIZE NEW MINERAL GRAINS. SINCE THE ABILITY TO PROPAGATE (GROW) AND EVOLVE ADAPTIVELY ARE TWO KEY FEATURES OF LIFE ANY ENSEMBLE HAVING THESE PROPERTIES WOULD BE LIFE-LIKE EVEN IF IT WERE NOT ORGANIZED INTO CELL-LIKE COMPARTMENTS AND LACKED ANY DIGITAL GENETIC ENCODING. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL USE THEORY AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF SURFACE-ASSOCIATED LIFE-LIKE INTERACTING MOLECULAR ENSEMBLES (SLIMES). GUIDED BY ARTIFICIAL ECOSYSTEM SELECTION A METHOD USED IN MICROBIAL ECOLOGY WE WILL EXPLORE THE BEHAVIOR OF SETS OF CHEMICALS ASSOCIATED WITH MINERAL GRAINS TO SEE IF THEY ARE CAPABLE OF RESPONDING TO AN ARTIFICIAL SELECTION PRESSURE.