ORIGIN OF LIFE

 

So when and where did life begin?

http://eis.jpl.nasa.gov/origins/library/news-cats.html#quest

 

Map of Earliest life forms found at: http://nitro.biosci.arizona.edu/courses/EEB105/lectures/Origins_of_Life/origins.html

 

Did life originate in:

Organic pools-

Mid ocean ridge vents: Beginning in 1977, submersible expeditions to mid ocean ridges have illuminated diverse life forms thriving under extreme conditions. Mid ocean ridges were thought to be inhospitable to life for a number of reasons: absence of light, intense hydrostatic pressure, and the presence of magmatically heated water. Nevertheless, geologists were surprised to find diverse chemosynthetic communities thriving in this harsh environment. On the basis of these observations, it has been suggested that mid ocean ridges may be the origin of life on Earth.

smoker gif

Image courtesy of William R. Normark at USGS

  http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/276/5310/222?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=earliest+life&searchid=QID_NOT_SET&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&fdate=10/1/1995&tdate=7/31/2001

Meteorite impacts:Picture (1738x1225, 283.5Kb)

Meteor Crater, Arizona. Photo by Kevin Hefferan

http://www-curator.jsc.nasa.gov/curator/antmet/marsmets/SearchForLife/SearchForLife.htm

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/281/5377/626b?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=origin+of+life&searchid=QID_NOT_SET&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&fdate=10/1/1995&tdate=7/31/2001

Inorganic reactions: 

An interview with Stanley Miller: http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/miller.html

http://eis.jpl.nasa.gov/origins/library/news-cats.html#story

 

Hot Springs: 

http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/gsatoday/gsat0007.htm

 

WHEN DID LIFE BEGIN?

GO TO FIRST SIGNS OF LIFE?