Comments on: it’s a comet! it’s a meteor! no, it’s a piece of rna!

By: Pierce R. Butler

Pierce R. Butler — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:27:10 +0000

The problem with writing headlines in lower-case letters is that you lead some people to wonder why outer space should include fragments of your mother.

By: gfish

gfish — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:48:23 +0000

“Then this could confirm the panspermia theory?”

At this point, I think there’s very little question that vital ingredients for life come from space but the small issue with the theory of panspermia is that it also involves alien life hitching a ride and spreading to multiple planets. That last part is very difficult to prove and still needs a lot of evidence before we call it a fact.

“[the] contemporary presence [of chiral bias arising in space] is testable in two novel ways. Somebody should look.”

Actually, they already have. the second link in the post talks about a study which found how amino acids in meteorites develop a chiral bias. Not surprisingly, that study was also done by NASA astrobiologists.

By: Uncle Al

Uncle Al — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:31:19 +0000

Structural (arranged formula units) and chemical (bonded atoms) chiral resolutions can spontaneously arise. Gently grind excess solid benzil (stereogram, space group P3(2)21) in solvent for a few days. A minute excess of one crystal enantiomer will amplify to resolution by recursive recrystallization. Ditto for racemizing a suitable molecule in alkaline solution vs. excess solid (thalidomide). Though cumulative resolution can be extreme there is zero bias for left vs. right outcomes. Bias origins are lamentably weak, maximum 8x10^(-12) eV divergence versus room temperature energy background kT = 2.57x10^(-2) eV, Mendeleev Commun. 13(3) 129 (2003) Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 41(24) 4618 (2002) A trace chiral vacuum background in the massed sector provides initial, consistent, universal, small left-right bias for later resolution on a planetary scale over billions of years. Its progenitor field would bias matter versus antimatter during the Big Bang. Its contemporary presence is testable in two novel ways. Somebody should look.

By: dad2059

dad2059 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:53:19 +0000

Then this could confirm the panspermia theory then?

I think this is just one part of the picture, especially with studies of proton reactions in ancient porous sea rock;

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427306.200-like-a-foaming-stone-life-began-in-rock.html?full=true