Origins of Life

[ysabetwordsmith]

Study uncovers potential origins of life in ancient hot springs

A research team investigated how the emergence of the first living systems from inert geological materials happened on the Earth, more than 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists found that by mixing hydrogen, bicarbonate, and iron-rich magnetite under conditions mimicking relatively mild hydrothermal vent results in the formation of a spectrum of organic molecules, most notably including fatty acids stretching up to 18 carbon atoms in length.

This kind of makes me want to grab some extremophiles and sequence their genes. They might be useful in trying to recreate life.

Comments

[cmcmck]

THere are things living next to ocean bed hot smokers which I find quite remarkable!

[see_also_friend]

You'd think someone would have a research paper on extremophiles DNA /somewhere/...

Also, mightn't this mean that extremophiles are the more common form of life and the rest of us are the delicate flowers of the universe?

I suppose that alternately we could all be extremophiles to /each other/.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

On a galaxy-wide basis, extremophiles tend to be more common. There are many places that can support a few odd forms of life but not a complex ecosystem.

Re: Well ...

[see_also_friend]

I find the idea of humans being the intergalactic version of a rare orchid amusing:

"You idiot! If you do that it will kill the whole human colony!"
"But it's only a little colder than normal!"
"There is frozen dihydrogen monoxide! Humans must remain at liquid H2O temperatures!"

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Now imagine them seeing Inuit people, then trying to explain that humans can survive in a frozen environment as long as they have protection from freezing themselves.

Re: Well ...

[see_also_friend]

Easy, explain that the clothes are a kind of primitive exosuit which keeps the insides at human-safe temps.

To be fair, the better someone is at xenocare in general or humancare in particular, the more nuanced the offered explanation can be.

But that would be a hilarious scifi short story!

[gatheringrivers]

Extremophiles: Nature makes backups, lol. :)

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's one set of backups.

Weeds are another. Among weedy traits are the ability to grow in harsh conditions, being very hard to kill, producing thousands of seeds, often with the ability to travel long distances somehow, which can persist for decades or even centuries before sprouting in favorable conditions.

That overlaps with, but is not identical to, some other categories like plants that produce far-traveling seeds and "bandage" plants designed to cover exposed soil. The latter even has subsets of plants dedicated to colonizing after different disasters such as wildfires, floods, landslides, volcanic eruptions, etc.

The soil seedbank itself is a broad-spectrum backup for terrestrial plants.

Plus of course, there's the black smoker ecosystem on the ocean floor that has nothing to do with the solar ecosystem on the surface. But restarting from that would be very difficult because of its isolation. Still, life finds a way.