As a chemist, I wanted to ask myself the question frustrated by biology: What is the minimal unit of matter that can undergo Darwinian evolution?

Cronin frames a chemist’s version of a classic origin-of-life problem: before cells and genes, what physical system is just complex enough to replicate with heritable variation and be subject to selection. The “frustrated by biology” phrasing signals dissatisfaction with treating Darwinian evolution as something that begins only once biology (DNA/RNA, cells) already exists. Instead, he is pointing toward a continuum between chemistry and biology—where evolving, information-bearing chemical assemblies might precede life as we know it. The quote also implies a research program: identify or build chemical systems that can copy, vary, and compete, thereby making evolution a property of matter under certain conditions rather than a phenomenon exclusive to organisms.