Meteorites reveal another way to make life's components

Some of the simplest building blocks of life, amino acids used to build proteins, can be made chemically in space with no living cells involved. Originally thought to only occur in low-temperature chemical reactions, scientists at NASA have shown that the same building blocks can be made under high temperature conditions.
This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Universe, according to the research team, and gives support to the theory that a "kit" of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by impacts from meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life. 


Read the Science Daily article HERE.


Read the NASA article HERE.


NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (2012, March 9). Meteorites reveal another way to make life's components. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 12, 2012, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2012/03/120309104845.htm