In it he showed that under the right circumstances, relatively simple creatures can gradually give rise to more complex creatures. Given this information, serious thinkers began to wonder: Is it possible that simple life forms actually could come from non-living matter?
Not by poofing into existence, but through a natural gradual process similar to what we see in biological evolution? In it he outlined his thoughts on a gradual progression from simple chemistry to living cells. He imagined the early ocean as a primordial soup — a rich collection of complex molecules produced by natural chemical reactions.
In this soup, further reactions could take place, eventually producing living cells. They were founded on a good understanding of chemistry and biology but they could not be considered legitimate scientific hypotheses because no one had found a way to test or observe them.
Science, after all, is the study of observable facts and an ongoing conversation about how those facts can be best linked together. Chemical reactions like those proposed by Darwin and Oparin, are not expected to leave an observable fossil record. Without either having fossils to examine or a time machine to travel back and observe what happened, how could scientists even begin to study the origin of life?
In the s, Stanley Miller, then a graduate student at the University of Chicago, came up with an idea. We could simulate early Earth conditions in the lab, and then carefully watch what happens. Working with his professor, Harold Urey, Miller designed an apparatus to simulate the ancient water cycle. Together they put in water to model the ancient ocean. It was gently boiled to mimic evaporation. Along with water vapor, for gasses of the atmosphere they chose methane, hydrogen, and ammonia.
These are simple gases which scientists at the time thought were probably abundant on the ancient Earth. They added a condenser to cool the atmosphere, allowing water molecules to form drops and fall back into the ocean like rain. The ancient Earth would have had many sources of energy: sunlight, geothermal heat, and even thunderstorms, so they added sparks to the atmosphere to simulate lightning.
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Perhaps while having coffee with colleagues someone suggested that cyanamide -- a chemical used in the production of pharmaceuticals -- might have been available on the early Earth and might help make peptides if added to Miller's reaction. The latest study is part of an ongoing analysis of Stanley Miller's old experiments. In , the research team found samples from that showed a much more efficient synthesis than Stanley published in Science in In , the researchers analyzed a experiment that used hydrogen sulfide as a gas in the electric discharge experiment.
The reactions produced a more diverse array of amino acids that had been synthesized in Miller's famous study. Eric Parker was the lead author on the study. Materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Science News. Journal Reference : Eric T. Parker, Manshui Zhou, Aaron S. Burton, Daniel P. Glavin, Jason P. Dworkin, Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, Facundo M. ScienceDaily, 25 June Georgia Institute of Technology. Origin of life: Stanley Miller's forgotten experiments, analyzed.
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