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

[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.