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Tohoku University reports that a new study [paywalled] shows that meteorite impacts on ancient oceans may have created nucleobases and amino acids. Researchers discovered this after conducting impact experiments simulating a meteorite hitting an ancient ocean.
With precise analysis of the products recovered after impacts, the team found the formation of nucleobases and amino acids from inorganic compounds. All the genetic information of modern life is stored in DNA as sequences of nucleobases. However, formation of nucleobases from inorganic compounds available on prebiotic Earth had been considered to be difficult.
In 2009, this team reported the formation of the simplest amino acid, glycine...This time, they replaced the carbon source with bicarbonate and conducted hypervelocity impact experiments...[and] found the formation of a far larger variety of life's building blocks, including two kinds of nucleobases and nine kinds of proteinogenic amino acids. The results suggest a new route for how genetic molecules may have first formed on Earth.
My knowledge of this area is very limited but I'm assuming by 'new route' that they are referring to the meteorite as vector, rather than the general formation of these building blocks via an impact from space. So the significance of these results is mainly experimental confirmation of the possibility?
(Score: 2) by seeprime on Wednesday August 19 2015, @09:55PM
There are a lot of different ways to create "life" in the lab. Maybe that's why there are so many different forms of life on our planet. I'm not God, so I'm not sure about that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @10:00PM
You're supposed to use a condom when you sleep with your students.
(Score: 2, Informative) by KBentley57 on Wednesday August 19 2015, @10:50PM
There really isn't that many different forms of life on the planet. The life that exists here has diversified greatly, but all life as we know it is based upon DNA, same cellular architecture, ect...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @12:13AM
Some things like stars and rocks have such long life cycles; we don't recognize them as life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @11:44AM
All life that has been discovered so far share a common ancestor by DNA sequence. It has been hypothesized that life arose multiple times but only one lineage successfully spread or out-competed the other forms.