[ExI] Abiogenesis under extremes of pressure

J.R. Jones mrjones2020 at gmail.com
Tue Jun 12 23:52:06 UTC 2012


On Jun 12, 2012 11:03 AM, "Stefano Vaj" <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Why don't those people write their things down? :-)

I think you can get a transcript ;-)

>
>
> On 9 June 2012 23:18, Giovanni Santostasi <gsantostasi at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Here an interesting TED lectures on actual attempts of abiogenesis in
the lab.
http://www.ted.com/talks/martin_hanczyc_the_line_between_life_and_not_life.html

>> Giovanni
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 3:22 PM, Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Saturday, June 9, 2012 11:47 AM BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote
>>> On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 3:58 PM, Dan wrote:
>>> >> Only a very casual observer of the origins of life field, but I
wonder if
>>> >> any work is being carried out to see if biologicals can be produced
under
>>> >> extremely high or low pressures. Proteins and other organic
compounds (and,
>>> >> heck, lots of things) behave differently under very high or very low
>>> >> pressure. I'm not saying this will be the magic bullet -- squeeze
some amino
>>> >> acids, lipids, and other goodies under a hundred atmospheres for a
few days
>>> >> and out will crawl something we'll all recognize as alive -- but I'm
>>> >> wondering if anyone is pursuing this approach.
>>> >
>>> > Lots of life in the deep ocean at up to 1000 atm pressure.
>>> > See:
>>> > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_ocean>
>>> > also
>>> > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vents>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm not sure how my point could be misunderstood, but I was talking
about the origin of life NOT whether life currently exists under these
conditions. Yes, there is life there now -- just like therr's life in the
dirt outside my window and, heck, on the my window -- but I was wondering
whether anyone has done any sort of abiogenesis* experiments (or even
serious theorizing) under extreme pressures to see if that's a factor in
the origin of life. (This research can be pursued on either end of the
spectrum too: very high pressures or very low ones. Maybe, as chemical
reactions are impacted, this might lead to some progress, such as, perhaps,
finding that high pressure lead to the formation of more complicated
precursors or to life itself.)
>>>
>>> (And, regarding hydrothermal vents as places for life to originate,
I've not read or heard anything about anyone paying particular attention to
the high pressures themselves being a factor -- just as the source of
energy and chemicals and gradients. I was specifically focusing on extremes
of pressure maybe having a decisive impact on the origin of life.)
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>> * That is, how biological life might arise from inorganic matter
through natural processes.
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Stefano Vaj
>
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