How Life Arose On Earth: Researchers Brew Up...

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How Life Arose On Earth: Researchers Brew Up Organics On Ice |

Would you like icy organics with that? Maybe not in your coffee, but researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., are creating concoctions of organics, or carbon-bearing molecules, on ice in the lab, then zapping them with lasers. Their goal: to better understand how life arose on Earth.

In a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, the research team provides the first direct look at the organic chemistry that takes place on icy particles in the frigid reaches of our solar system, and in the even chillier places between stars. Scientists think that the basic ingredients of life, including water and organics, began their journey to Earth on these lonesome ice particles. The ice and organics would have found their way into comets and asteroids, which then fell to Earth, delivering “prebiotic” ingredients that could have jump-started life.

The various steps needed to go from icy organics to slime molds are not clear, but the new findings help explain how the process works. The lab experiments show that organic material can begin the processing it needs to become prebiotic — while still frozen in ice.

“The very basic steps needed for the evolution of life may have started in the coldest regions of our universe,” said Murthy Gudipati, lead author of the new study at JPL. “We were surprised to see organic chemistry brewing up on ice, at these very cold temperatures in our lab.” continue reading

Source jpl.nasa.gov