This theory has been around since the 50's, and I think it's cool that people are still poking at it. Although it looks like their real purpose was to make ammonia for fertilizer, which to me is a funny connection to the origins of life.
atemerev 5 hours ago [-]
Assumed age of LUCA: 4.2 billion years. Age of Solar system: 4.6 billion years. LUCA had ribosomes. A ribosome is assembled and shaped by about 200 different proteins, it is an ultra-complicated molecular machine.
Conclusion: pre-LUCA evolution and abiogenesis did not happen on Earth, or even in the Solar system.
Corollary: life (at least on some primitive level) is probably common in the Universe, or at least in our local area of the galaxy.
ForTheKidz 5 hours ago [-]
I find it curious that you're choosing an article that strengthens the general case for abiogenesis on which to opine this point.
atemerev 4 hours ago [-]
I am not doubting abiogenesis itself; I am just noting that most probably it didn't happen on Earth. The article merely shows yet another pathway to producing complex organic molecules. There is an immense gap between complex organic molecules (and even possible self-replicating molecules) and an actual ribosome, which existed back at LUCA time.
Rendered at 15:53:04 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
Conclusion: pre-LUCA evolution and abiogenesis did not happen on Earth, or even in the Solar system.
Corollary: life (at least on some primitive level) is probably common in the Universe, or at least in our local area of the galaxy.