Re:Early indicators of life begins evolution

Volcanes as Life Catalysts

Volcanic eruptions may have played a critical part in the development of early life. Scientists have found that a toxic gas often ejected by volcanoes can help link amino acids into short chains called peptides, the simple precursors of proteins.

In the study, Reza Ghadiri of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, and colleagues exposed a watery solution of amino acids to poisonous carbonyl sulfide fumes. Even at room temperature, the gas helped amino acids join into groups of twos or threes. The reaction also occurred in seawater, while the addition of metals to the solution made the linking go even faster.

Reported in the journal Science, the experiment is among the few to demonstrate the formation of peptides in conditions common on early Earth. The finding suggests terrestrial volcanoes as well as undersea hydrothermal vents might well be cradles of life.


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thats news story is the beginning of life on earth. From there, we can see a clear path all the way to single celled organisims.And from those came we. there was lots of time, unimaginable time. It is scary to know how long life has been on earth... The first steps took 3 billion years , all those 100s of years just trying to combine an amino acid, 100s of those centuries, and thats just part of one million years, and there is a 1000 of them in a billion. See? Its just plain scary.

Lots of time. Time for chaos. Time for everything to happen.

We still have a billion years left.Thats unimaginable.So it is wise to burn all our oil up in just 150 years? [had to slip that in there!]

So volcanoes and lightning and amino acids. Then us. We still need to get those amino acids in our diets!! [hemp seed is the ultimate source for omega 1 2 &3 amoino acids][but they wont say so will they!]. [had to get that in there too].

And don't we still love watching volcanoes and lightning storms!!

[karlin]