A role for meteoritic iron in the emergence of life on Earth

[Waspie_Dwarf]

A role for meteoritic iron in the emergence of life on Earth

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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich have proposed a new scenario for the emergence of the first building blocks for life on Earth, roughly 4 billion years ago. By experiment, they showed how iron particles from meteors and from volcanic ash could have served as catalysts for converting a carbon-dioxide rich early atmosphere into hydrocarbons, but also acetaldehyde and formaldehyde, which in turn can serve as building blocks for fatty acids, nucleobases, sugars and amino acids. The research has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

To the best of our current knowledge, life on Earth emerged a mere 400 to 700 million years after the Earth itself had formed. That is a fairly quick development. For comparison, consider that afterwards, it took about 2 billion years for the first proper (eukaryotic) cells to form. The first step towards the emergence of life is the formation of organic molecules that can serve as building blocks for organisms. Given how fast life itself arose, it would be plausible for this comparatively simple first step to have been completed quickly, as well.

Read More: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

 

[Piney]

I have the opinion that simple life is common in the universe and hope to see the exploration of one of the ocean moons.