NASA Reproduces Building Blocks Of Life In Lab
“Our experiments suggest that once the Earth formed, many of the building blocks of life were likely present from the beginning,” added Scott Sandford, space science researcher at Ames.
Since we are simulating universal astrophysical conditions, the same is likely wherever planets are formed, Sandford noted.
NASA scientists have been simulating the environments found in interstellar space and the outer solar system for years.
In theory, the researchers thought that if molecules of pyrimidine could survive long enough to migrate into interstellar dust clouds, they might be able to shield themselves from destructive radiation.
In the lab, they found that when pyrimidine is frozen in ice mostly consisting of water, but also ammonia, methanol or methane, it is much less vulnerable to destruction by radiation than it would be if it were in the gas phase in open space.
Instead of being destroyed, many of the molecules took on new forms such as uracil, cytosine and thymine which are found in the genetic make-up of all living organisms on Earth.
The research was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the NASA Origins of Solar Systems Programme.
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