UV light may have sparked life on Earth

NewScientist.com ^ | May 28, 2003

[StupidQuestions]

That is one possible reason why abiogenesis does not rule out a creator. To my thinking, neither abiogenesis nor evolution says anything about the existence of God. But, I have no belief that our Universe is Anthropic by design. It might be but I have no firm belief that it is.

[plusone]

They did exactly such an experiment in the 50's. A jar was half-filled with simple liquid compounds thought to be present in the ancient, primordial sea. A mixture of a few gases above formed what they thought to be the early atmosphere. Applying an electric spark (lightening) did cause amino acids, the precursors of protein, to be formed. It was an interesting experiment, but one thing not widely reported was that the aminos had to be withdrawn from the vial as they were created, otherwise the same spark that formed them would also blast them back into their original components.

[b4its2late]

You done good on the first post.

[js1138]

Despite any first impression I might have formed of you, I have no problem with the Anthropic Principle. I'm not sure it contributes anything to the hard work of discovering the history of life, but it doesn't impede it either.

[RightWhale]

Yes, I'm not coming up with the name of the scientist, but the experiment was of vast societal import. One of the pivotal science demonstrations.

[plusone]

Sorry, I'm not up to speed today. That was sarcasm? (But why?)

[RightWhale]

No, it was a pivotal experiment. What was his name?

[Focault's Pendulum]

Than you for the ping. I don't respond to these threads all that much....but I sure as hell enjoy reading them.

[PatrickHenry]

I don't respond to these threads all that much....but I sure as hell enjoy reading them.

I ping you so that we'll have quality lurkers.

[plusone]

I'll have to do a web search...

[js1138]

Stanley Miller.

[plusone]

It was Stanley Miller.

[BMCDA]

A spontaneously generated placemarker ;)

[BibChr]

Desperate Substitute Theory #34792

"Yeah... yeah: ultraviolet light. That's the ticket!"

Dan

[John Valentine]

This article does not expound a theory. It does not even set forth a hypothesis. It is a mere speculation and is a rather wild one at that.

As long as we are engaging in speculation about the origin of life on Earth, I'd recommend Thomas Gold's "The Deep Hot Biosphere" as a reasoned speculation far more interesting and potentially far more important. Why? Becasue it is far more likely to be correct.

[RightWhale]

Stanley Miller. I read the story in the NYT. They used to have a great paper. Such an ordinary name, Stanley Miller. Now, of course they find amino acids in the gas clouds between stars. Seems to be something nature does without our assistance. It was next to unbelievable at the time; but now we say, of course, how could it be otherwise?

[RightWhale]

Wow! You're in Korea. How is the atmosphere? Tense, expectant, same old same-o?

[Kudsman]

Ultra-violet light, long thought to be an impediment to the early formation of long organic molecules, may in fact hold the key to the origin of life

In a zero sum game I might say; 'yup maybe it did'. But my next thought would be of where the UV light originated and who turned the lights on anyway?;-)

[Focault's Pendulum]

I ping you so that we'll have quality lurkers.

I'm flattered that you would use the word "quality", and my screen name in the same sentence.

[js1138]

Folks have dug pretty deep for Thomas's Gold without finding any. I'd love to see him proved right, but so far no joy.