William Atkins
Friday, 17 October 2008 20:04
Science -
Biology
Page 1 of 2
In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey at the University of Chicago tried to re-create the early atmosphere of Earth to see if they could figure out how life came to be here on Earth. Their work became a classic experiment and spurred many speculations on the origins of life. But, what now?
Please read the October 16, 2008 ScienceNOW Daily News article “
Did Volcanoes Spark Life on Earth?” by Phil Berardelli.
The article states,
“The duo filled a closed loop of glass chambers and tubes with water and different mixes of hydrogen, ammonia, and methane--gases presumed at the time to be the main constituents of the atmosphere billions of years ago. Then, in an attempt to confirm a hypothesis that lightning may have triggered the origin of life, they zapped the mixture with an electrical current. The researchers then analyzed the gunk that began to collect after a few hours.”
After 55 years, two other scientists are looking at the remnants of the Miller-Urey experiment.
See what happened by reading the rest of this Science story.
Further information is found on October 16, 2008 article by The New York Times “
Vials From Miller-Urey Experiment Offer New Hints on Origin of Life.”
Within this Times article, Dr. Jeffrey L. Bada, one of the scientists, says about the Miller-Urey vials used in their experiment,
“It just opens our eyes. It’s still revealing new things. What else is there that we haven’t found out from this experiment?”
Just this information is exciting in and of itself. Please read both articles to find out more about this new research.
Continue on page two for the rest of this science story.
