New evidence of how life began

[Melakon]

There are those who believe that life here began out there.

from Time:

http://time.com/3753366/life-began-earth-evidence/

There’s New Evidence About How Life on Earth Began

Some support for the primordial ooze theory

How did life on Earth start? Did it emerge from the primordial ooze as is popularly believed, or did it land here from a comet or some other celestial body?

A new study in the journal Nature Chemistry provides strong evidence that the ingredients necessary to concoct the first life forms did indeed exist on earth. The scientists say that they used hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen cyanide and ultraviolet light—three basic elements that were available pre-life as we know it—to create the building blocks of compounds that eventually led to the genetic material that all life on earth holds in common, DNA.

The process also likely got some extraterrestrial help. They speculate that meteorites might have reacted with nitrogen in the atmosphere to create hydrogen cyanide, and that in water, that chemical could have interacted with both hydrogen sulfide and the sun’s UV light.

[video in article]

 

[Metryq]

If the excerpt is representative of the article, then it tells us absolutely nothing new. The Miller-Urey experiment simulated the early Earth, and panspermia has been around about as long. Of course, something interesting is always turning up, but I doubt we'll ever know conclusively how life began for Earth.

 

[Dryson]

I would have to think that life would have begun involving the Higgs-Boson particle that is thought to be the particle that adds mass to particles.

Somewhere within the Higgs-Boson is the process where the human Genome began.

 

[Kemaiku]

what the hell are you smoking and how many cells per second is it killing?

 

[bbjeg]

Anyway, this theory is just fruit for thought. It's not like it could be disproven.

 

[HIjol]

What ship does Higgs serve as Bosun? I find no reference at Memory Alpha, or Particle Physics For Dummies.

And, what need do particles have for Mass? Are they believers? Can they even take Communion?

And, isn't Communion a book by Whitley Strieber?

Ha, I solved it! Life began at a Mass for particles on a ship served by a Lt. Higgs as Bosun, where there was a copy of Communion floating in the primordial Bilge.

 

[RoJoHen]

The particle that adds mass to particles.

 

[scotthm]

I would have to think...

Please don't. That would ruin the entertainment value.

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[{ Emilia }]

what the hell are you smoking and how many cells per second is it killing?

I would have to think...

Please don't. That would ruin the entertainment value.

Please lay off the personal attacks. I get that these discussions can be frustrating at times but if you do it again I will have to start handing out infractions.
Attack the content, not the person.

Consider this a friendly reminder.

 

[Metryq]

Emilia just hinted at how life might end.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Scientists have been looking for stars that formed in the same nebula as Earth's sun, in the quest to know how Life began, as well. In part, I'm sure, it's a sort of "search" for new life, but the odds of that amounting to anything are low. The main thrust of it is actually to backtrack the orbits of these stars in the Milky Way and get an idea of where the Solar Nebula was. If they know the area it was in, it would be very useful in helping to understand what conditions eventually led to Life on Earth. Insofar as I am aware, "they" only ever found one other star from the Sun's old stomping grounds and it's like ... I don't know ... a hundred light years or more from us.

 

[Metryq]

Insofar as I am aware, "they" only ever found one other star from the Sun's old stomping grounds and it's like ... I don't know ... a hundred light years or more from us.

Any idea how this familial relationship was established?

 

[Santaman]

In theory with spectroscopy you can determin if the other star has about the same chemical composition as the sun, if this is the case than it might indeed be the case that it formed in the same nebula.

 

[Metryq]

Wouldn't that also presume that all the stars were the same size and type and burned their fuel at the same rate to maintain the spectroscopic similarity?

 

[Ithekro]

Lt. Higgs was unfortunately stationed on USS Yamato.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Here's an article about the first discovery of a sibling of the Sun:

http://www.space.com/25881-sun-sister-star-found-hd162826.html

First 'Sibling' of Sun Found
By Charles Q. Choi, Space.com Contributor | May 15, 2014 09:48am ET

Astronomers have likely discovered the first sibling of the sun, a star born from the same cloud of gas and dust as the one that lights Earth's days.

Finding more solar siblings could help shed light on how the solar system came to harbor life, researchers said, adding that life may even teem on the planets circling such sister stars.

[...]

To recognize solar siblings, researchers need to detect at least two identifying features: similar chemical compositions and orbits that suggest they might share the same birthplace as the sun.

[...]

The chemical compositions of the sun and its siblings are similar because the stellar nursery in which they formed was contaminated by material given off by nearby stars, and potentially by remnants of stellar explosions known as supernovas.

"The ratio of abundances of a few chemical elements are key parts of this chemical fingerprint — barium and yttrium, for example," said lead study author Ivan Ramirez, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin.

After the scientists analyzed the chemistry of these stars, they were left with two potential candidates. They next modeled the orbits of these stars around the center of the Milky Way. They found one of these candidates, HD 162826, may have shared the stellar nursery the sun was born in about 4.6 billion years ago.

 

[Metryq]

Here's an article about the first discovery of a sibling of the Sun:

They next modeled the orbits of these stars around the center of the Milky Way. They found one of these candidates, HD 162826, may have shared the stellar nursery the sun was born in about 4.6 billion years ago.

Possible. But riddle me this, Batman: The orbital calculations for galaxies have already run into some major stumbling blocks—namely the velocity curve that prompted the invention of Super Massive Black Holes at the center of every galaxy, and then tremendous haloes of never detected (nor theoretically detectable) Dark Matter just to "save the phenomenon." It has also been announced that the Milky Way appears to have a "corrugated" structure. Then how certain can we be about orbits that were—most likely—based on gravity? Taking that as a confirmed given, what caused the star siblings to scatter, rather than stay relatively clumped together? Another nova? An ad hoc stork star passing through the stellar nursery, or some other must-happen-a-lot coincidence?

 

[2takesfrakes]

Then how certain can we be about orbits that were—most likely—based on gravity? Taking that as a confirmed given, what caused the star siblings to scatter, rather than stay relatively clumped together? Another nova? An ad hoc stork star passing through the stellar nursery, or some other must-happen-a-lot coincidence?

This article is much closer to the source:

http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/news/releases/2014/05/08

[S]everal factors are needed to really pin down a solar sibling, [University of Texas at Austin astronomer Ivan Ramirez said]. In addition to chemical analysis, his team also included information about the stars’ orbits — where they had been and where they are going in their paths around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The team’s experts in this field, which is called “dynamics,” are A. T. Bajkova of the Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in St. Petersburg, Russia, and V. V. Bobylev of St. Petersburg State University.

Combining information on both chemical make-up and dynamics of the candidates narrowed the field down to one: HD 162826.

“The idea is that the Sun was born in a cluster with a thousand or a hundred thousand stars. This cluster, which formed more than 4.5 billion years ago, has since broken up,” he says. “A lot of things can happen in that amount of time.” The member stars have broken off into their own orbits around the galactic center, taking them to different parts of the Milky Way today. A few, like HD 162826, are still nearby. Others are much farther afield.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Beyond that, I don't know what else to say on it, really.
I'm an Artist - not an Astronomer!

 

[Spider]

All ingredients for life are made in stellar clouds. But the problem with finding out the true origin of life is that if life began when we think it did, the evidence has since been recycled and destroyed by geophysical processes. I'm of the belief that life, as we know it, did get it's start on this planet with contributions from the solar nebula. But there are so many ways that that could have happened, we might never know. And even if we create life in a laboratory, it most likely won't be how the Earth did it.

 

[Hatshepsut]

...and panspermia has been around about as long. Of course, something is always turning up, but I doubt we'll ever know conclusively how life began for Earth.

True. It's too remote in time and we don't have access to a young planet where it might be going on now. Panspermia of course just defers the problem; life has to arise on the planet that acts as the seed source.

Wouldn't that also presume that all the stars were the same size and type and burned their fuel at the same rate to maintain the spectroscopic similarity?

HD 162826 is slightly more massive and hotter than the sun, and therefore has a different spectral class, F8, on the Hertzsprung-Russel diagram where the sun is G2. The spectral signatures they are looking for involve heavy elements common to stars across spectral class provided their metallicity indices are the same. At least thirty finalists were studied closely for "solar siblinghood." More details are at Ramirez et al 2010 (Archived copy of study).

You've pointed out other uncertainties such as a Ptolemaic saving of the appearances introduced by dark matter. Of course it's always possible everything we think we know about the sky will turn out totally hokey. Yet oddly, dark matter or not, all the stars within a small region of the galaxy should experience similar gravitational forces. The candidate stars here are nearby and are roughly pacing the sun's speed and direction.