Meteorite impacts may have helped spawn life on Earth
Nature Geoscience
2008년12월8일
Impacts in the early oceans from the most common type of meteorites may have generated some of the complex organic molecules necessary for life, reports a study online in Nature Geoscience.
Although many of the starting elements of life were present on early Earth, it is unclear how they became organized into the building blocks of life. Yoshihiro Furukawa and colleagues used a propellant gun to simulate the impact of an iron and carbon-bearing meteorite, into a mixture of water and ammonia to mimic the chemistry of Earth’s early oceans. After the high-velocity impact, the team recovered a mixture of organic molecules, including a simple amino acid.
The group concludes that meteorite impact events, which were frequent on early Earth, may have contributed to the creation of complex organic molecules that formed the basis for life.
doi: 10.1038/ngeo383
리서치 하이라이트
-
8월4일
Environment: Extreme flooding and drought make risk management difficultNature
-
8월3일
Environment: Salt may inhibit lightning in sea stormsNature Communications
-
7월29일
Environment: Costs of amphibian and reptile invasions exceeded US$ 17 billion between 1986 and 2020Scientific Reports
-
7월27일
Environment: Plastic pollution encourages bacterial growth in lakesNature Communications
-
7월27일
Ecology: Using fallow land to grow vanilla increases biodiversityNature Communications
-
7월26일
Palaeontology: Attenborough fossil provides insights into jellyfish familyNature Ecology & Evolution