The giant mosaic of the Milky Way galaxy from NASA's WISE infrared explorer displays areas of interstellar space where dozens of dense nebulae transform into new stars.
A team of researchers has discovered new evidence in favor of a theory that claims that the main ingredients for life came to Earth from asteroids. Despite a lot of research and research, scientists still can’t say exactly how life began on planet Earth. They also do not know whether it originated from a set of existing components or whether they arrived on an asteroid and a comet.
There are two leading theories. The first one believes that life originates in a hot spring on land or in a deep-water thermal fan. The second theory is convinced that the main components of life came from another place. New evidence supports the second theory.
One of the main components of life is sugar, as it gives energy. One type of sugar (2-deoxyribose) is considered a sugar component in DNA. In the laboratory, scientists were able to recreate cosmic conditions, in the course of which they found that there are enough conditions for the spontaneous creation of 2-deoxyribose. They sent the sample to the freezer and cooled it to near absolute zero. Then placed in a vacuum chamber, then dipped into a gas mixture of water and methanol (interstellar medium). To simulate stellar radiation, immerse the sample in ultraviolet light.
The analysis showed that initially the ice appeared on the sample, which melted due to UV rays. It turned out that a small amount of 2-deoxyribose was formed along with some other sugars. Researchers carefully studied samples from several carbon meteorites and noticed the presence of alcohols and deoxy sugar acids. This is not exactly 2-deoxyribose, but the sample was small, so it is possible to find it in other samples.
Researchers Michel Nuevo, Christopher Materez and Scott Sandford study the cosmic origin of life-important molecules.
Scientists believe that their findings further strengthen the theory that the main ingredients for life came from space. They only needed the proper conditions to go from a cocktail of chemicals to the form of living beings.
