“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.” Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: In the beginning, there were prebiotic compounds that were the ingredients for life but had not yet come together in the right ways. Organic sulfur compounds known as thioesters might have catalyzed reactions that ultimately led …
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A new study pushes the date of a Scottish meteorite impact from the often cited 1.2 billion years to about 990 million years. That single change reshapes a key chapter in Earth history and reframes when complex life began to spread beyond the oceans. The evidence sits inside a rugged slice of rock in northwest Scotland called the Stac Fada …
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Chemists at UCL have shown how two of biology’s most fundamental ingredients, RNA (ribonucleic acid) and amino acids, could have spontaneously joined together at the origin of life four billion years ago. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, the “workhorses” of life essential to nearly every living process. But proteins cannot replicate or produce themselves — they require …
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Astronomers have detected a variety of complex organic molecules (COMs) in the protoplanetary disk surrounding a young star, offering compelling new clues about the chemical roots of life. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team led by Abubakar Fadul of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) identified 17 complex compounds in the disk of V883 Orionis. Organic …
Read More »Scientists May Have Found Life’s Building Blocks In Planet-Forming Disk For First Time Study Finds Life might have come from outer space, scientists say The Independent Stepping Stones To Life-Crucial Molecules Found In Planet-Forming Disk: “It’s Really Exciting!” IFLScience The evolution of life may have its origins in outer space Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften Are the ‘Seeds of Life’ Assembled in Space? A …
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