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Tiny Mineral Test-Tubes: The Cradle of Life? Reseach conducted at the Universities of Edinburgh and Chicago reveals that the first life on Earth may have formed in tiny pores on the surface of underwater rocks. By BBC News Online Start Date: 12/21/98 (December 21, 1998) The birthplace for life on Earth may have been labyrinthine networks of tubes on the surface of rocks. In these natural test tubes, the complex molecules needed for life could have evolved in safety, taking its building blocks from the water washing over the rock and from the minerals within. New research argues that the pores provide the perfect sheltered environment for the chain of chemical reactions necessary to evolve the first bacteria. The proposal, from scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Chicago, also explains how cell walls first developed: as lids on the pores used to batten down the hatches during droughts. The work was welcomed by Dr Graham Cairns-Smith, an expert on origin of life at the University of Glasgow. "It's a fascinating piece of mineralogy and I'm all for it," he told BBC News Online. "The idea that the critical organic reactions would take place in the open primordial oceans is now very hard to believe." The new idea follows a painstaking analysis of the microscopic structure of alkali feldspar, a common mineral in rocks. It solves many of the problems with current ideas of how life first began. Life blossoming in primordial pools, rich in organic molecules, is now thought to be unlikely. The molecules would easily be dispersed by waves or currents, stopping the chain of reactions. Furthermore, the intense ultraviolet light shining on the early Earth would have quickly destroyed any embryonic life. But a cosy, safe haven would prevent these difficulties. It has been suggested that clay minerals could have acted as templates for life. But as the team leader Professor Ian Parsons at Edinburgh University told BBC News Online, "That's a good start but most minerals, including clays, don't work because they repel rather than attract organic molecules. However, there is a mineral called zeolite, one rare type of which does attract organic molecules, and this could occur on the surface of feldspars." The first cells Best of all, the new work presents a plausible way to develop cell walls, a critical step which allows living organisms to travel safely in search of food or away from predators. Professor Parsons explains: "The reactions for life will not work in the right order without a container, but you cannot get a container, or cell wall, until you have the right reactions - it's Catch 22." He, along with colleagues Dr Martin Lee and Professor Joseph Smith, believes that if the surface of a rock with the first glimmers of life hidden inside dried out occasionally, this would encourage the proto-organism to develop some form of protection. A fatty lid would prevent it from perishing through evaporation. Through time, this could expand outwards, like an inflating balloon, so the organism could capture passing nutrients. Eventually the organism could leave the pore entirely, surrounded by the protective layer. This udding process would then have created the first cell. Most likely place for life Dr Cairns-Smith sees merit in this. "Feldspars are found in terrestrial rocks, where ocean, air and earth all come together. This is the best place for life to begin as a more complicated environment will create more selection pressures for interesting things to develop." The pores form when the mineral is exposed to the dilute acids contained in rain. A regular honeycomb of pores, with a huge surface area, begins to develop. Each pore is less than a thousandth of a millimetre wide and reaches less than one hundredth of a millimetre into the rock. The researchers' study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Tuesday, shows that there are a million potential micro-bioreactors on every square millimetre of rain-weathered feldspar. The next step, according to Professor Parsons, is to understand the crystal structure of the pore walls. "If atomic structure resembles known catalysts for these organic molecule reactions, it would really all hang together." [Disclaimer: This article is copyright (c) BBC News Online and is posted in the public interest.] Excelsior, Michael Lindemann's new novel (written under the pen name Michael Paul), depicts a wholly plausible near future in which human cloning is both widespread and widely abused; terrorists have access to target-specific biological weapons; recreational space travel is commonplace; and mounting pressures of global climate change, environmental decline, population growth and civil unrest inspire radical new approaches to urban security. Built by Frontier on a Macintosh on 6/17/00; 11:52:48 AM. Web Comments - Produced by Larry Lowe Served 1962 times since 12/21/98.

La Nina, Like El Nino, Brings Bizarre Weather La Nina, a cooling trend in the mid-Pacific, caused weather to be very strange in much of the world during the winter of 1998-99. Scientist Hints at Silicon-Based Life Underground Dr. Tom Gold, emeritus professor of astronomy at Cornell University, says there's a good chance silicon-based life lives in solid rock deep under the earth. NASA: Some Space Samples May Pose Risk to Earth A report of the National Academy of Sciences in July, 1998, said that samples that might be returned to Earth from Mars and other space destinations during the coming decade may pose risks to Earth-life and therefore should require special handling. NASA Steps Up Efforts to Track Asteroids In July, 1998, NASA announced its new Near-Earth Object Program Office, which will coordinate efforts to locate asteroids and comets that could potentially threaten the Earth. Survey: Most U.S. Scientists Don't Believe in God A survey in mid-1998 found that 93% of U.S. scientists do not profess belief in God, and 92.1 percent do not profess belief in immortality. World May Be on Edge of Environmental Revolution There are growing signs that the world may be nearing an environmental revolution comparable to the political revolution that swept Eastern Europe a decade ago, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Anniversaries: U.S. Recalls Two Historic Disasters During the last week of March, 1999, the U.S. looked back on the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster of 20 years ago, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster ten years ago. Revolt Against Genetically Modified Foods Gains Force In recent months, a consumer backlash against genetically modified (GM) foods has exploded across much of Europe and now threatens to stop the GM industry in its tracks. Nuclear Industry Faces Slow Slide to Oblivion According to the Worldwatch Institute, the nuclear power industry is at its peak of power capacity now and will start declining within two years, toward eventual extinction sometime in the mid-21st century. The Future According to Gordon-Michael Scallion Do the startling predictions of this 'Latter-Day Nostradamus' make sense? Some actually do -- but many others don't.