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Life on Earth began somewhere between 3.7 and 4.5 billion years ago, after meteorites splashed down and leached essential elements into warm little ponds, say scientists at McMaster University and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Their calculations suggest that wet and dry cycles bonded basic molecular building blocks in the ponds' nutrient-rich broth into self-replicating RNA molecules that constituted the first genetic code for life on the planet.
The researchers base their conclusion on exhaustive research and calculations drawing in aspects of astrophysics, geology, chemistry, biology and other disciplines. Though the "warm little ponds" concept has been around since Darwin, the researchers have now proven its plausibility through numerous evidence-based calculations.
[...] The spark of life, the authors say, was the creation of RNA polymers: the essential components of nucleotides, delivered by meteorites, reaching sufficient concentrations in pond water and bonding together as water levels fell and rose through cycles of precipitation, evaporation and drainage. The combination of wet and dry conditions was necessary for bonding, the paper says.
Original URL: Did life on Earth start due to meteorites splashing into warm little ponds?
Origin of the RNA world: The fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1710339114) (DX)
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(Score: -1, Troll) by aristarchus on Thursday October 05 2017, @07:24AM (4 children)
Just as I thought. If only I had an iota to refudiate this going rouge by Young Refuglicans!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 05 2017, @04:26PM (3 children)
Going red? Nahhh, you ain't got it in you.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Thursday October 05 2017, @07:18PM (2 children)
Once again, Runaway, read it again. It does not say what you think it says.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 06 2017, @01:17AM (1 child)
Rouge, as in Baton Rouge, which is French for Red Stick. Republicans are red, right? Democrats are blue, right? You're going rouge? Come on, you made a spelling mistake when you typed rogue.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Friday October 06 2017, @01:30AM
Red is for Commie! A relic of the Cold War such as yourself should know this! And you did not catch the double-Palin? "Refudiate" and "Rouge" in the same sentence? Republicans want to break teacher unions and un-fund education, because they cannot spell, and resent people who can. Darn liberal snobs!