NASA simulates the conditions of the emergence of life in the laboratory

Tariq Cain

NASA's astronomical biologists have recreated the conditions that could have led to life on the ocean floor four billion years ago in the laboratory.

Scientists aim to identify life on other planets by studying the origins of life on Earth, an experiment that can help answer how life forms on Earth. The experiment can also provide evidence for the search for life on other planets in the vast universe.

Start life on earth
Australian space scientist Laurie Barge and her team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Are working to better understand life on other planets by studying the origins of life on Earth. Their research focuses on how they form the building blocks of life in oceanic vents.

Scientists say that more than 4 billion years ago, when the earth was turbulent and new, a strange spark of life had come into being. They were not quite sure how it happened, but the evidence suggests it was deep below sea level, out of the reach of the sun.

One of the hypotheses related to life assets is the hydrothermal vents, which are cracks in the ocean floor, often associated with volcanic activity, where the heat escapes from the ground, and natural chimneys that release liquids that are heated beneath the surface develop. When this solution interacts with seawater It creates a kind of turbulence, and creates an environment in a continuous flow state.

How was the simulation
To recreate these water vents, the team manufactures mini-marine floors by filling glass cups with mixtures that mimic the chemical composition of the ancient ocean. These marine bottoms act as incubators of amino acids, organic compounds essential to life as we know it now.

It is the warm dark environment that may be a key to understanding how the forms of life on outer planets are generated away from the heat of the sun.

"This research certainly aims to" look for life elsewhere, "says Barg, the author of the new study, published in the Proceedings of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Understanding how far you can go with organic matter and minerals before you have an actual cell is very important, to understand the kinds of environments that life can emit," she said.

Barge and her colleague Erica Flores used common components that were present in the Earth's environment in their experiments. They combined water, minerals and molecules of pyruvate precursors and ammonia necessary to begin the formation of amino acids.

The researchers tested their hypothesis by heating the solution to 70 ° C, the same temperature found near a water thermal nozzle, and controlled pH to mimic the alkaline environment.

They also removed oxygen from the mixture because, unlike today, the earth had very little oxygen in its environment at the beginning of life.

In addition, the team used metal iron hydroxide or "green rust" which was abundant on the ground at the time.

The reaction of green rust with small amounts of oxygen is injected into the solution by the amino acid alanine and alpha-hydroxy acids, a byproduct of amino acid reactions, but some scientists believe it can combine to form more complex organic molecules that can lead to life as we know it. End.

The team continues to study these interactions in the hope of finding more components of life and creating more complex molecules.

"We have no concrete evidence of life elsewhere, but understanding the conditions required for the origin of life can help narrow the places where we think life can be," Barge said.