Image: Is Deep Space the Womb of the Universe?” adapted from Image by ausbitbank from Pixabay, Pixabay License

Image: Is Deep Space the Womb of the Universe?” adapted from Image by ausbitbank from Pixabay, Pixabay License

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Dear Ones,

Here is M.B. Simakov with the interesting notion that comets and meteorites might have conveyed very complex organic compounds to early Earth, providing a head start for evolution of life on our planet. That notion allays concerns that the DNA lotto for early Earth was unlikely so quickly to spawn such an incredible biomass as now exists.

Here are a few excerpts that I liked …

“Abstract. It is now well-known that carbonaceous chondrites contain large quantities of prebiotic molecules, including amino acids, carbohydrates, and heterocyclic bases of nucleic acids. It has become evident that the chemical evolution proceeds under conditions of open space, which serves as a huge chemical reactor. The extraterrestrial origin of these prebiotic molecules has been established on the basis of diversity, molecular structure, and isotopic composition. The molecular composition of a meteorite’s organics resembles abiotic processes governed by physico-chemical processes that occurred on the parent bodies, including asteroids. The synthesis of soluble compounds in carbonaceous chondrites consists of a multi-step process in which organic precursors were formed in the interstellar cloud, incorporated with many volatiles into icy planetesimals and, upon aqueous processing produced the variety of compounds which can form complexes under space energy sources. We show experimentally that the solid mixtures of biologically significant compounds (nucleosides and amino acids) produce more complex compounds when they are exposed to either vacuum UV photons or ionizing radiation …

“5. Exobiological Implications … It can be suggested that the chemical evolution which had proceeded at the early stages of the Solar system ori- gin would lead to the appearance of very complex organic compounds. The compounds synthesized under these con- ditions could have survived inside comets and meteorites, the last witnesses of the formation of our Solar system, and have been delivered to early Earth at the stage of the “late heavy bombardment” and later. The comets, carbona- ceous chondrites, and other primitive bodies of the Solar system, including interplanetary and interstellar dust parti- cles, are responsible for essentially all carbon compounds and water currently present in our planet. Therefore, these highly complex organic molecules have been proposed as the starting material for early biological activity on Earth and on other planets in the Universe (Oro et al., 1992; Flynn, 1996).”

–from Link: “Asteroids and the origin of life — two steps of chemical evolution on the surface of these objects,” by Michael Simakov, “Earth, Planets and Space,” Vo. 60, pp 75-82 (2008), CC BY 4.0 International … https://earth-planets-space.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/BF03352764#citeas ..

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In love, light and joy
This is Alice B. Clagett.
I Am of the Stars … and so are you!

Written and published on 17 May 2025

Music by TokyoRifft from Pixabay – “The Birth of Dharma” – Pixabay License

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). Attribution: By Alice B. Clagett.
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life on earth, origins of life on earth,