In addition to the question of the origin of the universe, another significant question for many non-scientists is about the origin of life on Earth. Scientists find this to be a very perplexing problem as well, and something that is somewhat difficult to actually perform in the lab due to the very different conditions of a younger Earth. One of the most significant subproblems still to be solved by biologists is to determine the origin of the first DNA, RNA, and amino acids.

Within the last few years, scientists have used huge supercomputers to test some of their theories on this idea. Many other parts of the origin of life problem are being examined in similar ways because it's so much easier (and cheaper) to recreate early Earth conditions on a computer than it is in a lab.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080318212430.htm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-math-solve-origin-of-life