tagged w/ Stanley Miller
-
Part of the findings of Stanley Miller's famous 1953 experiment suggested that lightning was the catalyst that sparked the creation of amino acids from a combination of early-Earth gases. In the classic Miller-Urey experiment, a mixture of gases and water that Miller thought were present on early Earth was heated and zapped with electricity to mimic lightning. This created five identifiable amino acids.
Yet Miller tested three versions of his spark flask. One of the two lesser-know setups - the volcanic apparatus - created 22 amino acids that could be positively identified, and this is what was investigated by Jeffrey Bada of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California and his colleagues.
Interestingly, other studies conducted by the late famous biochemist Sidney W. Fox found that amino acids join together when exposed to dry heat, that amino acids collected in shallow puddles along the rocky shore, and the heat of the sun caused them to form proteinoids. When proteinoids enter the water they form microspheres structures that resemble a proto-cell... the first steps in the origin of life.
I can hear the creationists screaming in frustration...Part of the findings of Stanley Miller's famous 1953 experiment suggested that... more
-
