Very cool scientific theory, I love my science daily hehehe microbes ahhh how cute
Science News http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080728220324.htm
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Diamonds May Have Been Life's Best Friend On Primordial Earth
ScienceDaily (July 30, 2008) — Diamonds may have been life's best friend. Billions of years ago, the surface of these gems may have provided just the right conditions to foster the chemical reactions believed to have given rise to life on Earth, researchers in Germany report.
Their study is scheduled for the August 6 issue of ACS' Crystal Growth & Design, a bi-monthly journal.
In the new study, Andrei Sommer, Dan Zhu, and Hans-Joerg Fecht point out that scientists have theorized for years that the chemical precursors of life gradually evolved from a so-called "primordial soup" of simpler molecules. But the details of how these simpler amino acids molecules, the building blocks of life, were assembled into complex polymers, remains one of science's long-standing mysteries.
To find out, the research team studied diamonds, crystallized forms of carbon which are older than the earliest forms of life on Earth. In a series of laboratory experiments, the scientists showed that after treatment with hydrogen, natural diamond forms crystalline layers of water on its surface, essential for the development of life, and involved in electrical conductivity. When primitive molecules landed on the surface of these hydrogenated diamonds in the atmosphere of early Earth, the resulting reaction may have been sufficient enough to generate more complex organic molecules that eventually gave rise to life, researchers say.
See also:
Earth & Climate
Sustainability
Geochemistry
Earth Science
Fossils & Ruins
Origin of Life
Charles Darwin
Evolution
Reference
Humus
Photosynthesis
Biosensor
Carbon cycle
American Chemical Society. "Diamonds May Have Been Life's Best Friend On Primordial Earth." ScienceDaily 30 July 2008. 31 July 2008 http://www.sciencedaily.com/.
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