What is chilly start theory origin of life?
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Theory that an icy environment might have helped jump-start life isn’t new. Researchers proposed in 1994, for example, that repeated cycles of freezing and thawing could help accelerate some of the chemical reactions necessary for life. Although life as we currently know it requires liquid water, small amounts of liquid can persist even at –60°F. Scientists argue that microscopic pockets of water within ancient ice may have gathered simple molecules, which assemble into longer and longer chains, forming the foundation for life. They believe life began inside hundreds of feet of ice that supposedly covered the early oceans.
Recently, scientists, including Laura F. Landweber of Princeton University, argue that ice may have been a favorable environment to generate the first self-replicating molecules, a precondition for life. These molecules are thought to have been RNA. RNA molecules tend to fall apart under warm conditions outside of cells. This would prevent the buildup of the rather long, complex RNA molecules that would probably be needed to conduct life processes.
Scientists believe that various conditions can prevent RNA molecules’ breakdown. These include various types of water solutions, and freezing, but they strongly believe that freezing may have been the one that most likely occurred on the early Earth. Although freezing is usually thought to slow down chemical reactions and thus be hostile to life, many scientists have found that freezing actually speeds up some of RNA’s key activities. This is because ice contains hard, tiny compartments that hold the molecules in one place, where they can react together. Some of these reactions result in the creation of the bigger RNA molecules. In liquid water, by contrast, the molecules don’t come close enough together often enough to react as much. Thus they tend to fall apart faster than they can react to create bigger products.
In essence, the small compartments in ice play the role that cells today play in bringing the molecules together to react, argues Landweber. Dehydrated substances, or a sort of primordial sludge, could have also provided a function similar to ice, but ice works better.
Theory that an icy environment might have helped jump-start life isn’t new. Researchers proposed in 1994, for example, that repeated cycles of freezing and thawing could help accelerate some of the chemical reactions necessary for life. Although life as we currently know it requires liquid water, small amounts of liquid can persist even at –60°F. Scientists argue that microscopic pockets of water within ancient ice may have gathered simple molecules, which assemble into longer and longer chains, forming the foundation for life. They believe life began inside hundreds of feet of ice that supposedly covered the early oceans.
Recently, scientists, including Laura F. Landweber of Princeton University, argue that ice may have been a favorable environment to generate the first self-replicating molecules, a precondition for life. These molecules are thought to have been RNA. RNA molecules tend to fall apart under warm conditions outside of cells. This would prevent the buildup of the rather long, complex RNA molecules that would probably be needed to conduct life processes.
Scientists believe that various conditions can prevent RNA molecules’ breakdown. These include various types of water solutions, and freezing, but they strongly believe that freezing may have been the one that most likely occurred on the early Earth. Although freezing is usually thought to slow down chemical reactions and thus be hostile to life, many scientists have found that freezing actually speeds up some of RNA’s key activities. This is because ice contains hard, tiny compartments that hold the molecules in one place, where they can react together. Some of these reactions result in the creation of the bigger RNA molecules. In liquid water, by contrast, the molecules don’t come close enough together often enough to react as much. Thus they tend to fall apart faster than they can react to create bigger products.
In essence, the small compartments in ice play the role that cells today play in bringing the molecules together to react, argues Landweber. Dehydrated substances, or a sort of primordial sludge, could have also provided a function similar to ice, but ice works better.
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