US EditionScientists redid an experiment that showed how life on Earth could have started. They found a new possibility
- Scientists, including Dr. Richard Zare from Stanford University and Dr. Amy J. Williams from the University of Florida, revisited the 1953 Miller-Urey experiments, publishing new research on March 14 in Science Advances.
- The research explores abiogenesis, the theory that life emerged from nonliving molecules, by investigating electrical activity on a smaller scale, proposing a new mechanism for the prebiotic synthesis of life's building blocks.
- Focusing on mist-generated microlightning between charged water droplets, the scientists suggest this constant zapping could have cooked up amino acids, the basic building blocks of proteins, in early Earth's pools and puddles, allowing molecules to accumulate and form more complex structures.
- Dr. Amy J. Williams stated, "Lightning, or in this case, microlightning, has the energy to break molecular bonds and therefore facilitate the generation of new molecules that are critical to the origin of life on Earth," and also acknowledged that "It's recognized that an energetic catalyst was almost certainly required to facilitate some of the reactions on early Earth that led to the origin of life."
- While the details of life's origins, which may involve alternative hypotheses like hydrothermal vents or panspermia, remain uncertain, this research provides another potential avenue for understanding how molecules crucial to the origin of life could have formed on Earth around 3.5 to 4.5 billion years ago, ultimately leading to the evolution of life, even though infrequent lightning previously cast doubt on such theories.
26 Articles
26 Articles
A major evolutionary enigma solved: How simple cells gave rise to complex ones
All branches of science have fundamental questions that researchers are keen to answer. In biology, one of them concerns how simple cells (prokaryotes), such as bacteria, gave rise to complex cells (eukaryotes), necessary for the development of multicellular organisms, two billion years ago.Seguir leyendo
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How did life begin on Earth? Scientists appear to have found the answer after recreating an experiment.
“He’s alive! HE’S ALIVE!” Just as Dr. Henry Frankenstein exclaimed in the 1931 film “Frankenstein” at his achievement. It was an electrifying moment in more ways than one. As massive lightning bolts and energy crackled, Frankenstein’s monster jolted on a laboratory bench, his body springing to life through the power of electricity. Electrical energy may also have fueled the beginning of life on Earth billions of years ago, albeit with slightly l…
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