Science News Review

Origin of Life: Outer Space?

Aug 17 at 9:09am by Aileen

The debates have been raging for years. Scientists square off and argue with each other about what is most likely to be true, and those of us on the sidelines have picked favorites and made our bets.

How - and where - did life originate? Are we alone in the universe? And if not, where are our brothers and sisters? Two recent reports have added some new evidence and analysis to the debates.

In the article, Physicists Discover Inorganic Dust With Lifelike Qualities, researchers report that particles of inorganic dust in plasmas can self-organize into helical structures in the electronically charged environment, resulting in microscopic strings of particles that assume the characteristic corkscrew shape of organic molecules like DNA and even “reproduce” - bifurcate to produce two copies of the original structure. According to computer models, these structures also evolve into more complex structures, and experience a form of natural selection so that only the ‘fittest’ structures survive.

The speculation is that life out in space doesn’t necessarily have to be carbon-based like life on earth. This would qualify as “inorganic” life, though scenarios where such structures may have spontaneously arisen in plasmas created on earth by lightning strikes are intriguing as a first step to organic life as we know it. Very interesting!

On a related note, astrobiologists at Cardiff University report that analysis of recent cometary probes (like Deep Impact) suggests that life may have begun inside of wandering chunks of rock and ice. The article Did Life Begin in Space? New Evidence from Comets reports that probes have found a mixture of organic molecules (in the case of Comet Wild 2, complex hydrocarbon molecules) and fine clay particles beneath the cometary surface. The idea of clay particles as a catalyst for complex organic structures has been around for awhile in origin of life research, and the speculation that radioactive elements can keep some of the water in comets in a liquid form in the interior means that the theorized right ‘ingredients’ are present to cook up a batch of life!

We may be getting closer to answers, if not to meeting intelligent aliens with advanced technologies. Perhaps just small steps for mankind, perhaps someday will become a competition space-swim meet for all life of all kinds!