The Building Blocks of Life:

[oldpaddoboy]

Understanding that while abiogenesis is the only scientific way life could have started, we are  still left with the mystery question of how that happened in detail. I have always had a soft spot for Panspermia as possibly part of that  process. The following article seems to give that scenario some respectability.....

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-crucial-blocks-life-earth-easily.html

Crucial building blocks of life on Earth can more easily form in outer space, says new research:

The origin of life on Earth is still enigmatic, but we are slowly unraveling the steps involved and the necessary ingredients. Scientists believe life arose in a primordial soup of organic chemicals and biomolecules on the early Earth, eventually leading to actual organisms.

It's long been suspected that some of these ingredients may have been delivered from space. Now a new study, published in Science Advances, shows that a special group of molecules, known as peptides, can form more easily under the conditions of space than those found on Earth. That means they could have been delivered to the early Earth by meteorites or comets—and that life may be able to form elsewhere, too.

 

The functions of life are upheld in our cells (and those of all living beings) by large, complex carbon-based (organic) molecules called proteins. How to make the large variety of proteins we need to stay alive is encoded in our DNA, which is itself a large and complex organic molecule.

However, these complex molecules are assembled from a variety of small and simple molecules such as amino acids—the so-called building blocks of life.

To explain the origin of life, we need to understand how and where these building blocks form and under what conditions they spontaneously assemble themselves into more complex structures. Finally we need to understand the step that enables them to become a confined, self-replicating system—a living organism.

This latest study sheds light on how some of these building blocks might have formed and assembled, and how they ended up on Earth.

more at link........

[Vmedvil]

On 4/21/2024 at 7:56 PM, oldpaddoboy said:

Understanding that while abiogenesis is the only scientific way life could have started, we are  still left with the mystery question of how that happened in detail. I have always had a soft spot for Panspermia as possibly part of that  process. The following article seems to give that scenario some respectability.....

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-crucial-blocks-life-earth-easily.html

Crucial building blocks of life on Earth can more easily form in outer space, says new research:

The origin of life on Earth is still enigmatic, but we are slowly unraveling the steps involved and the necessary ingredients. Scientists believe life arose in a primordial soup of organic chemicals and biomolecules on the early Earth, eventually leading to actual organisms.

It's long been suspected that some of these ingredients may have been delivered from space. Now a new study, published in Science Advances, shows that a special group of molecules, known as peptides, can form more easily under the conditions of space than those found on Earth. That means they could have been delivered to the early Earth by meteorites or comets—and that life may be able to form elsewhere, too.

 

The functions of life are upheld in our cells (and those of all living beings) by large, complex carbon-based (organic) molecules called proteins. How to make the large variety of proteins we need to stay alive is encoded in our DNA, which is itself a large and complex organic molecule.

However, these complex molecules are assembled from a variety of small and simple molecules such as amino acids—the so-called building blocks of life.

To explain the origin of life, we need to understand how and where these building blocks form and under what conditions they spontaneously assemble themselves into more complex structures. Finally we need to understand the step that enables them to become a confined, self-replicating system—a living organism.

This latest study sheds light on how some of these building blocks might have formed and assembled, and how they ended up on Earth.

more at link........

Interesting!

[Moontanman]

On 4/21/2024 at 7:56 PM, oldpaddoboy said:

Understanding that while abiogenesis is the only scientific way life could have started, we are  still left with the mystery question of how that happened in detail. I have always had a soft spot for Panspermia as possibly part of that  process. The following article seems to give that scenario some respectability.....

https://phys.org/news/2024-04-crucial-blocks-life-earth-easily.html

Crucial building blocks of life on Earth can more easily form in outer space, says new research:

The origin of life on Earth is still enigmatic, but we are slowly unraveling the steps involved and the necessary ingredients. Scientists believe life arose in a primordial soup of organic chemicals and biomolecules on the early Earth, eventually leading to actual organisms.

It's long been suspected that some of these ingredients may have been delivered from space. Now a new study, published in Science Advances, shows that a special group of molecules, known as peptides, can form more easily under the conditions of space than those found on Earth. That means they could have been delivered to the early Earth by meteorites or comets—and that life may be able to form elsewhere, too.

 

The functions of life are upheld in our cells (and those of all living beings) by large, complex carbon-based (organic) molecules called proteins. How to make the large variety of proteins we need to stay alive is encoded in our DNA, which is itself a large and complex organic molecule.

However, these complex molecules are assembled from a variety of small and simple molecules such as amino acids—the so-called building blocks of life.

To explain the origin of life, we need to understand how and where these building blocks form and under what conditions they spontaneously assemble themselves into more complex structures. Finally we need to understand the step that enables them to become a confined, self-replicating system—a living organism.

This latest study sheds light on how some of these building blocks might have formed and assembled, and how they ended up on Earth.

more at link........

This is bad news for those who advocate for life based on chemicals other than carbon, carbon once again wins the contest for being the only realistic candidate for the basis of life.  

[Vmedvil]

On 4/25/2024 at 7:52 AM, Moontanman said:

This is bad news for those who advocate for life based on chemicals other than carbon, carbon once again wins the contest for being the only realistic candidate for the basis of life.  

I am sure that some silicates and other materials can be formed in space that could be used by other biochemistries of life just as organic carbon compounds, Link = Frontiers | Formation of Interstellar Silicate Dust via Nanocluster Aggregation: Insights From Quantum Chemistry Simulations (frontiersin.org). I don't think it dooms other biochemistries of life this news.

[Moontanman]

3 hours ago, Vmedvil said:

I am sure that some silicates and other materials can be formed in space that could be used by other biochemistries of life just as organic carbon compounds, Link = Frontiers | Formation of Interstellar Silicate Dust via Nanocluster Aggregation: Insights From Quantum Chemistry Simulations (frontiersin.org). I don't think it dooms other biochemistries of life this news.

It might not doom other biochemistries but it does indicate the the path to life is paved with carbon.