[ExI] Abiogenesis under extremes of pressure

[Kelly Anderson]

On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 8:58 AM, Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com> 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.

Dan,

  I think you would find the work of Robert M. Hazen very interesting.
His book "Genesis" talks exactly about abiogenesis under high
pressure. He has an entire chapter entitled "Under Pressure". He
started life as a geologist, so this was pretty natural for him to
think about.

  If you prefer video instead, you can look for his TLC class on the
subject which is very interesting, but takes some time to work
through. Contact me off list if you can't find it.

-Kelly