Researchers Chris Kempes and David Krakauer of the Santa Fe Institute believe that life probably originated multiple times, in different ways. It is possible that new features showed up in different life-forms that were unrelated, and neither may have even known the other existed. Kempes and Krakauer, who recently published a study in Journal of Molecular Evolution, compare the dawn and development of life to the eye. Eyes of many creatures evolved from independent features that came together over time. Life is less likely to be descended from one organism that started it all — and what seem to be adaptations could go beyond that and actually define new life-forms.