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Author Topic:   Chemical Evolution
Coragyps
Member (Idle past 765 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 5 of 74 (127848)
07-26-2004 3:18 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Apostle
07-26-2004 12:11 PM


In fact, as there is no evidence for the existence of the 'chemical brew' it is more likely than not that it never existed, and without it there seems to be no reason to believe that the production of small amounts of amino acids by some electrical charges can really have anything to do with the origin of life.
The ol' brew may not have ever had to exist on earth, though I'm quite certain some version of it did: a big variety of amino acids and other "biomolecules", including things like the vitamin niacin, have been found in pristine meteorites. Plentiful raw materials that are made in stars and interstellar clouds combine under the influence of ultraviolet light to make precursors for these chemicals - you just add water and there they are. And as the early Earth's atmosphere was essentially oxygen-free, those that survived passage through the atmosphere could accumulate.

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Coragyps
Member (Idle past 765 days)
Posts: 5553
From: Snyder, Texas, USA
Joined: 11-12-2002


Message 39 of 74 (364034)
11-16-2006 4:54 AM
Reply to: Message 37 by jar
11-16-2006 2:11 AM


Re: At Home In the Universe
The Universe is not finely tuned for us. We are barely adequately tuned to survive in it.
Let me jump in here for a sec - this "universe" that jar is talking about is only about a ten-mile-thick veneer on one little-bitty planet, as far as we know today. If there are other places in the cosmos that support any sort of life, they're almost surely veneers on other little planets. Nearly ALL of the universe is "tuned" to EXCLUDE life of any sort whatever: it's almost entirely either vacuum or highly ionized gas. And yes, I agree with jar as to the degree of tuning for our little apple-peel biosphere. We scrape by, for now.

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