  In a pioneering study experimental evidence was sought of thermosynthesis, a
theoretical biological mechanism for free energy gain from thermal cycling that
has been invoked as energy source for the origin of life. A PCR machine applied
thermal cycling to the K12 strain of Escherichia coli. The viability of this
organism during starvation was determined at cyclic and at constant
temperature. The found increase in the viability counts during the first days
of starvation is consistent with thermosynthesis. The scattering in the results
is however large. Further research is needed to proof that the increase is
indeed due to a thermosynthesis process.
