Abiogenesis

[Occams Barber]

How does that work? Can it be repeated in lab conditions?

See Post 209 from @The IbanezerScrooge for a list of 70 observations and experiments on processes and products (i.e. amino acids, proteins, RNA) associated with abiogenesis.

Taken collectively these papers do not conclusively prove abiogenesis however they do support it as a viable hypothesis.
OB

 

[Subduction Zone]

I didn't mention the word should.

How old is this hypothesis?

Hard to say since there are several of them and they change as the evidence comes in. Why does it matter? The very earliest version had to be rather "hand wavey" since there was very little knowledge of how life worked.

The first successful experiment in abiogenesis was the Miller-Urey experiment. The experiment proposed that amino acids, which would have had to exist before life did, could arise naturally. They confirmed that could have happened. And when the atmosphere used was thought to be possibly incorrect it was tested again and found to still work with the "new" atmosphere. Then amino acids were found in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites telling us that the Earth could also have been seeded with amino acids from space. That was some of the earliest work in the science and it has advanced quite a bit since then.

Here is a link to the website of just one scientist involved in this work:


Szostak Lab: Home

 

[HARK!]

The first successful experiment in abiogenesis was the Miller-Urey experiment.

I don't know. I would think that if it could have just popped up out of a mud puddle, under the right conditions; that after 70 years, that scientists would be able to repeat that process in an ideal lab environment, with controlled conditions, and all of the necessary elements.

Has anyone considered any possibilities besides happenstance?

 

[Subduction Zone]

I don't know. I would think that if it could have just popped up out of a mud puddle, under the right conditions; that after 70 years, that scientists would be able to repeat that process in an ideal lab environment, with controlled conditions, and all of the necessary elements.

Has anyone considered any possibilities besides happenstance?

Why would you think that? The process in nature likely took millions of years. How are they going to replicate that in a lab when life itself is not fully understood. This is not an easy problem.

 

[Speedwell]

I don't know. I would think that if it could have just popped up out of a mud puddle, under the right conditions; that after 70 years, that scientists would be able to repeat that process in an ideal lab environment, with controlled conditions, and all of the necessary elements.

Has anyone considered any possibilities besides happenstance?

No one thinks life just popped out of a mud puddle, and "happenstance" is too unlikely a possibility to receive much consideration.

 

[HARK!]

Why would you think that? The process in nature likely took millions of years. How are they going to replicate that in a lab when life itself is not fully understood. This is not an easy problem.

Why would you think that it took millions of years? I've never heard of a chemical reaction taking that long before.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Why would you think that it took millions of years? I've never heard of a chemical reaction taking that long before.

Because it was not just one reaction.

 

[HARK!]

No one thinks life just popped out of a mud puddle, and "happenstance" is too unlikely a possibility to receive much consideration.

Then what is the general supposition?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Then what is the general supposition?

Abiogenesis - Wikipedia

 

[renniks]

It definitely happened. Probably that way.

What definitely happened? Something came from nothing?

 

[Larniavc]

What definitely happened?

Abiogenesis

 

[HARK!]

Because it was not just one reaction.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say?

Are you suggesting that a series of chemical reactions took place; and that those compounds lasted for millions of years until one day they all came together?

If that were the case then why wouldn't these compounds be all over the place, especially considering all of the bio-matter that has piled up all of the planet from terminated plant and animal lives?

 

[Subduction Zone]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say?

Are you suggesting that a series of chemical reactions took place; and that those compounds lasted for millions of years until one day they all came together?

If that were the case then why wouldn't these compounds be all over the place, especially considering all of the bio-matter that has piled up all of the planet from terminated plant and animal lives?

Some chemical last for billions of years. And those chemicals can be found everywhere today. You may not know this, but there are quite a few amino acids in your body.

 

[Speedwell]

Then what is the general supposition?

I take it that you haven't looked it any of the links which hve been posted for you. But the general supposition is that there was an orderly process involving a series of biochemical compounds of increasing complexity starting with those which were definitely not alive to those which definitely were alive.

 

[renniks]

Abiogenesis

Out of what? Where do the acids come from?

 

[Speedwell]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say?

Are you suggesting that a series of chemical reactions took place; and that those compounds lasted for millions of years until one day they all came together?

If that were the case then why wouldn't these compounds be all over the place, especially considering all of the bio-matter that has piled up all of the planet from terminated plant and animal lives?

They are. And for all we know, the emergence of life may be relatively common in nature; but such simple proto-life would immediately become food for already existing creatures and so we don't detect it.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Out of what? Where do the acids come from?

From various sources. They have been shown to form naturally.

 

[HARK!]

Abiogenesis - Wikipedia

I didn't want to to take a lot of time to study this subject. I sounded shaky when I learned of it over 40 years ago. I thought that you had studied the subject. Thanks for your help though.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I didn't want to to take a lot of time to study this subject. I sounded shaky when I learned of it over 40 years ago. I thought that you had studied the subject. Thanks for your help though.

If you don't want to study it then you cannot claim that it is shaky. I am not going to do all of your homework for you. If you do not understand a point you can ask questions, but if you want to discuss it all you need to at least try to understand the basics. You have been given the resources for a beginning. You cannot really ask for more than that.

 

[Speedwell]

I didn't want to to take a lot of time to study this subject. I sounded shaky when I learned of it over 40 years ago. I thought that you had studied the subject. Thanks for your help though.

It's gotten much less shaky in the last forty years and still remains the only reasonable possibility.

 

[HARK!]

They are. And for all we know, the emergence of life may be relatively common in nature; but such simple proto-life would immediately become food for already existing creatures and so we don't detect it.

Oh there might be all kinds of things we don't detect. Who knows?