Did life begin in space?

[Dumpy Dooby]

Discover: Did Life Begin In Space?

Interstellar clouds of gas are impregnated with organic molecules, the chemical ingredients of life. In just two years of work with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, astronomers have discovered eight new organic molecules near the center of the Milky Way, bolstering theories that key chemical precursors of life were first forged in deep space.

All eight of the new carbon-containing molecules are relatively large, composed of 6 to 11 atoms each. One of the molecules, acetamide, is particularly exciting because it contains a peptide bond, the essential bond for connections between amino acids. "No one has ever found an amino acid in space," says Jan M. Hollis of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "I've actually written several papers about not finding them."

The new finds join a list of about 125 smaller carbon-based molecules identified in space so far. All of them tend to form by simple chemical reactions between smaller components or through the activity of radicals and neutral molecules on the surface of floating dust grains. Eventually, energy from nearby protostars causes the molecules to evaporate off the dust and fly end over end through space, where astronomers can trace their radiation frequencies, since each molecule radiates in a distinctive way.

In the famous Miller-Urey experiment of the 1950s, researchers produced a rich soup of amino acids by running an electric current through flasks containing elements of a primitive Earth, thus showing how precursor chemicals could have formed here. But the discovery of biologically significant molecules in interstellar clouds of gas and dust could push life's history much, much farther back in time and out into space. "When you look at these clouds, it's almost like looking back into history," Hollis says. Molecules like these, traveling on interplanetary dust, meteorites, or comets, "could give life a jump-start on an early planet."

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Read about the discovery of aldehyde molecules (which help form amino acids) in outer space in January 2005's Top 100 Stories issue.

As some scientists scour space for evidence of life's beginnings, others search fossils for clues.

So I'm not really sure what to make of this. On one hand, it could just be pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo, but on the other hand, the guy might be on to something. I've always liked the thought of life starting on Earth and evolving from there, but this definitely makes a bit more sense. If this guy is right, then we now have a good idea of how organic molecules got on Earth. However, if that guy is right, then we're now faced with a much more troubling question: How did the molecules get into space? We've identified various stages of the Big Bang, and none of them have indicated any production of organic molecules. So how did they get there? Was it part of some type of nuclear reaction in a star? Is that even possible? I'm not educated enough in astrophysics, nor molecular biology, to really develop a resolution.



edit: I just realized that my question is answered in the article: "All of them tend to form by simple chemical reactions between smaller components or through the activity of radicals and neutral molecules on the surface of floating dust grains."

Though I don't necessarily know what that means.

[Thomas Crown]

Considering the Earth is in space, I'd venture to say yes.