{"id":149238,"date":"2018-12-19T17:55:03","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T16:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/?p=149238"},"modified":"2018-12-19T17:55:03","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T16:55:03","slug":"comenzo-la-vida-en-los-suelos-hidricos-de-tierra-hace-4500-millones-de-anos-y-el-cambio-climatico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2018\/12\/19\/149238","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfComenz\u00f3 la vida en los suelos h\u00eddricos de Tierra hace 4,500 Millones de A\u00f1os? (\u00bfy el cambio clim\u00e1tico?)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\">\u00a0<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ngg-singlepic ngg-center\" src=\"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/42\/files\/396\/0-extraterrestre-origen-de-la-vida.jpg\" alt=\"0-extraterrestre-origen-de-la-vida\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u00bfO fueron los extraterrestres con su portentosa ingenier\u00eda planetaria de Terrasformaci\u00f3n. Fuente: Colaje de im\u00e1genes google<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">En el post que redactamos hace m\u00e1s de ocho a\u00f1os y que llevaba como t\u00edtulo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2011\/03\/05\/138530\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Sobre los Posibles Or\u00edgenes de la Vida (Entre Jaimito y Mafalda)<\/span><\/a> escrib\u00edamos en clave de humor: <em>\u00a1Veamos Pancho! \u00bfD\u00f3nde est\u00e1 Dios?, a lo cual el gafotas responde: \u201cEn el cielo, en la Tierra y en todas las partes\u201d. Muy bien, como siempre el primero. Veamos ahora Jaimito, \u00bfD\u00f3nde se origin\u00f3 la Vida?. Y para su sorpresa,\u00a0 este trasto de criatura espeta \u00bfdepende de la fuente de informaci\u00f3n cient\u00edfica que utilice?. \u00a1\u00a1\u00a1\u00a1\u00a1Jaimito!!!!!!, no te repito la pregunta, o me respondes o te quedas castigado despu\u00e9s de clase. \u00a1Pues en el cielo en La Tierra y en todas las partes!. Mientras Do\u00f1a Eucrasia castiga a Jaimito, Mafalda piensa para s\u00ed misma: \u00a1\u00a1\u00a1Qu\u00e9 vida tan divina!!!!. Empero Jaimito llevaba la raz\u00f3n, al menos si uno atiende a la documentaci\u00f3n aparecida en los noticieros cient\u00edficos<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Desde entonces han aparecido decenas, por no decir centenares de art\u00edculos, pero el asunto estriba en que seguimos mareando la perdiz. \u00bfC\u00f3mo es posible que se propongan una y mil veces lo mismo, es decir nada, ni muy seguro, ni tan siquiera altamente probable?<\/strong><\/span> Cuando se tratan temas candentes, actualmente siempre ocurre lo mismo: nuevas t\u00e9cnicas instrumentales, ciertas evidencias que debieran ser corroboradas, y \u00faltimamente, sin cesar,\u00a0los escenarios generados por los modelos de simulaci\u00f3n dan lugar a un abanico al parecer casi infinito\u00a0de posibilidades. Los modelos de simulaci\u00f3n num\u00e9rica, no dejan de ser m\u00e1s que modelos basados en las evidencias aludidas y asunciones te\u00f3ricas siempre cuestionables. Con el tiempo, pr\u00e1cticamente todos estos estudios pasar\u00e1n al ba\u00fal de los recuerdos. Esto no es ciencia, sino especulaci\u00f3n tras especulaci\u00f3n, y vuelta a empezar. No se puede confundir al ciudadano de forma tan indecente.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Hoy os presentamos varias noticias que no se ponen de acuerdo ni en c\u00f3mo llegaron a la Tierra los diferentes elementos esenciales de la tabla peri\u00f3dica, ni c\u00f3mo\/cuando se form\u00f3<\/strong><\/span>. Y si esto ocurre, \u00bfc\u00f3mo se puede insistir una y otra vez en dar cuenta de lo que pas\u00f3 poco despu\u00e9s? <strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Lo m\u00e1s tragic\u00f3mico del tema es que ya, hace varias d\u00e9cadas, se propusieron los mismos escenarios, que los que ahora salen a la palestra<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Hoy os vamos a mostrar varias noticias (con alg\u00fan p\u00e1rrafo traducido), aunque nos centraremos en la primera redactada en espa\u00f1ol castellano: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/notiweb\/noticias\/un-estudio-afirma-que-meteoritos-lagunas-agua-fueron-origen-vida?origen=notiweb\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Un estudio afirma que meteoritos y lagunas de agua fueron el origen de la vida<\/span><\/a>, que no las surgencias termales de los fondos oce\u00e1nicos. Empero<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"> <strong>tal conjetura tiene m\u00e1s de \u00a150 a\u00f1os! de antig\u00fcedad!<\/strong><\/span> Lo mismo ocurre con las primeras mol\u00e9culas autoreplicantes, aunque soslayaremos hoy este tema. Es decir la \u00faltima vuelta atr\u00e1s es volver a incluir los <a href=\"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/2016\/06\/06\/147080\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">protosuelos h\u00eddricos<\/span><\/a> en la primera l\u00ednea. De este tipo de edafotaxa ya os hemos hablado en m\u00e1s de una ocasi\u00f3n. <strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">\u00bfY se trata en esencia de la \u00faltima novedad?, pero\u2026\u00a1un momento!\u2026\u2026<\/span> <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">en el texto aludido puede leerse \u00abse\u00f1alaron que la vida empez\u00f3 mientras la Tierra todav\u00eda estaba form\u00e1ndose, con continentes emergiendo de los oc\u00e9anos y meteoritos impactando en la superficie\u201d. \u00a1Vale, \u00bfpero ya hab\u00eda charcas?.<\/span><\/strong> Al parecer s\u00ed, ya que seguidamente se nos \u00bfinforma? de que\u2026.: \u00a1los meteoritos transportaron elementos esenciales para la vida, mientras que <strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">los ciclos secos y h\u00famedos ayudaron a ensamblar\u00a0los bloques b\u00e1sicos de la estructura molecular en mol\u00e9culas de ARN. \u00bfAlternancia de ciclos secos y h\u00famedos?<\/span>. <\/strong>Si se piensa detenidamente en esta sentencia, resulta que ofrece pistas muy interesantes que los autores \u201cindebidamente han soslayado\u201d. Entendida literalmente, nos habla de periodos de sequ\u00eda y periodos de humedad. <em>Mutalis mutandis<\/em>, la nota de prensa habr\u00eda podido titularse a bombo y platillo:<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"> \u00a1<strong>La vida fue el resultado de un cambio\u00a0 clim\u00e1tico<\/strong>!.<\/span> \u00a1Otra vez!. Tengo \u00a1ya pesadillas!: todos nuestros males son culpa del cambio clim\u00e1tico: \u00bfaunque este fuera natural?. No necesariamente, bien pudo crearse por una civilizaci\u00f3n extraterrestre y su portentosa ingenier\u00eda planetaria. \u00bfAcaso no pretendemos hacer lo mismo en otros planetas con nuestra gloriosa <a href=\"https:\/\/es.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ingenier\u00eda_planetaria\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">geoingenier\u00eda planetaria<\/span><\/a>?, es decir \u00bfla denominada <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elcomercio.es\/gijon\/20070910\/sociedad\/terraformacion-ingenieria-planetaria-20070910.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Terraformaci\u00f3n<\/span><\/a>?. Pues bien, ya tengo mi propuesta, \u00a1una m\u00e1s! <em>made in<\/em> \u201cUn universo invisible bajo nuestros pies!.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Os dejo primero la noticia en castellano que <strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">propone los suelos\/protosuelos como candidato m\u00e1s veros\u00edmil<\/span><\/strong>. \u00a1Da igual!. En estos temas sucede como en muchas \u00a0elecciones pol\u00edticas: al final ninguna partido\/propuesta alcanza el n\u00famero de votos suficientes como para tener una c\u00f3moda legislatura, necesitando hacer pactos con otros \u00a0partidos\/propuestas. Pues eso consenso, necesitamos consenso. \u00bfConsenso de qu\u00e9?. \u00a1Ya me he perdido!.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><strong>Juan Jos\u00e9 Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em>Continua\u2026..<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><a href=\"http:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/notiweb\/noticias\/un-estudio-afirma-que-meteoritos-lagunas-agua-fueron-origen-vida?origen=notiweb\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Un estudio afirma que meteoritos y lagunas de agua fueron el origen de la vida<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>La vida se inicio en la Tierra hace entre 4.500 y 3.700 millones de a\u00f1os gracias al impacto de meteoritos en peque\u00f1as lagunas de la superficie terrestre, seg\u00fan un estudio canadiense que se acaba de publicar<\/strong><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>El texto explica que los meteoritos transportaron elementos esenciales para la vida, mientras que los ciclos secos y h\u00famedos ayudaron a fusionar los bloques b\u00e1sicos de la estructura molecular en mol\u00e9culas de ARN<\/strong> (\u00e1cido ribonucleico) <strong>capaces de autorreproducirse. Estas mol\u00e9culas de ARN constituyeron el primer c\u00f3digo gen\u00e9tico de la vida en la Tierra<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">El estudio, publicado en la revista cient\u00edfica <a title=\"Proceedings of the National Academy of Science\" href=\"http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/early\/2017\/09\/26\/1710339114.full?sid=5417215d-b641-4893-ab19-5e5a2f8ff637\" target=\"_blank\">Proceedings of the National Academy of Science<\/a>, ha sido realizado por investigadores de la <a title=\"Universidad McMaster\" href=\"http:\/\/dailynews.mcmaster.ca\/article\/meteorites-may-have-brought-building-blocks-of-life-to-earth\/\" target=\"_blank\">Universidad McMaster<\/a> de Canad\u00e1 y el <a title=\"Instituto Max Planck\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mpg.de\/institutes\" target=\"_blank\">Instituto Max Planck<\/a> de Alemania. Sus principales autores, Ben K.D. Pearce y Ralph Pudritz del <a title=\"Origins Institute\" href=\"https:\/\/origins.mcmaster.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">Origins Institute<\/a> de la Universidad McMaster<strong>, se\u00f1alaron que la vida empez\u00f3 mientras la Tierra todav\u00eda estaba form\u00e1ndose, con continentes emergiendo de los oc\u00e9anos y meteoritos impactando en la superficie<\/strong>. Para llegar a estas conclusiones, los investigadores realizaron una serie de c\u00e1lculos de astrof\u00edsica, geolog\u00eda, qu\u00edmica y biolog\u00eda, entre otras disciplinas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Los autores indicaron que la creaci\u00f3n de pol\u00edmeros de ARN, el componente esencial de mol\u00e9culas org\u00e1nicas conocidas como nucle\u00f3tidos, transportados por los meteoritos, alcanzaron una concentraci\u00f3n cr\u00edtica en lagunas de agua<\/strong>. Los pol\u00edmeros eran imperfectos \u00ab<strong>capaces de mejorar gracias a la evoluci\u00f3n darwiniana<\/strong>\u00ab, precisaron los investigadores en un comunicado. Pearce afirm\u00f3 que \u00ab<strong>ese es el Santo Grial de los or\u00edgenes de vida qu\u00edmica experimental<\/strong>\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>La creaci\u00f3n del ARN dio lugar con el tiempo al desarrollo de ADN <\/strong>(\u00e1cido desoxirribonucleico). Pudritz manifest\u00f3 que \u00ab<strong>el ADN es demasiado complejo para haber sido el primer aspecto de la vida que apareci\u00f3<\/strong>. Tuvo que iniciarse con algo distinto, que fue el ARN\u00bb. Sus c\u00e1lculos se\u00f1alan que <strong>las lagunas de agua templada que existieron en la Tierra, y no chimeneas hidrotermales en el fondo de los oc\u00e9anos que defiende otra teor\u00eda sobre el origen de la vida, son el lugar m\u00e1s probable donde se desarroll\u00f3 el ARN inicial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Adem\u00e1s, el polvo espacial tampoco ser\u00eda la fuente de los nucle\u00f3tidos, los ladrillos del material gen\u00e9tico. Aunque este conten\u00eda los materiales necesarios\u00a0no pudo llegar a\u00a0la Tierra con la suficiente velocidad. <strong>Para los autores es m\u00e1s probable que los meteoritos, que eran\u00a0mucho m\u00e1s comunes en aquellas etapas del Sistema Solar, fueran los veh\u00edculos\u00a0m\u00e1s probables para los ingredientes de la vida<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.terradaily.com\/reports\/The_volatile_processes_that_shaped_the_Earth_999.html\"><strong>The volatile processes that shaped the Earth<\/strong><\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span>by Staff Writers<br \/>\nOxford UK (SPX) Oct 02, 2017<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Oxford University scientists have shed new light on how the Earth was first formed<\/strong>. Based on observations of <strong>newly-forming stars, scientists know that the solar system began as a disc of dust and gas surrounding the centrally-growing sun. The gas condensed to solids which accumulated into larger rocky bodies like asteroids and mini-planets. Over a period of 100 million years these mini-planets collided with one another and gradually accumulated into the planets we see today, including the Earth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><em>Los cient\u00edficos de la Universidad de Oxford han arrojado nueva luz sobre c\u00f3mo se form\u00f3 la Tierra por primera vez. Basados en observaciones de estrellas reci\u00e9n formadas, los cient\u00edficos saben que el sistema solar comenz\u00f3 como un disco de polvo y gas que rodea al sol de crecimiento central. El gas se condensaba en s\u00f3lidos que se acumulaban en cuerpos rocosos m\u00e1s grandes como asteroides y mini-planetas. Durante un per\u00edodo de 100 millones de a\u00f1os estos mini-planetas chocaron entre s\u00ed y gradualmente se acumul\u00f3 en los planetas que vemos hoy, incluyendo la Tierra<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Although it is widely understood that Earth was formed gradually, from much smaller bodies, many of the processes involved in shaping our growing planet are less clear. In a new study featured on the cover of the latest edition of Nature, researchers from the University of Oxford&#8217;s Department of Earth Sciences <strong>untangle some of these processes, revealing that the mini-planets added to Earth had previously undergone melting and evaporation. They also address another scientific conundrum: the Earth&#8217;s depletion in many economically important chemical elements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>It is well known that the Earth is strongly depleted, relative to the solar system as a whole, in those elements which condensed from the early gas disc at temperatures less than 1000 C<\/strong> (<strong>for example<\/strong>, <strong>lead, zinc, copper, silver, bismuth, and tin<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The conventional explanation is that the Earth grew without these volatile elements and small amounts of an asteroidal-type body were added later<strong>. This idea cannot, however, explain the \u00abover abundance\u00bb of several other elements &#8211; notably, indium<\/strong>, which is now used in semiconductor technologies, as well as TV and computer screens.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Postgraduate student Ashley Norris and Bernard Wood, Professor of Mineralogy at Oxford&#8217;s Department of Earth Sciences, set out to uncover the <strong>reasons behind the pattern of depletion of these volatile elements on Earth and for the \u00aboverabundance\u00bb of indium<\/strong>. They constructed a furnace in which they controlled the temperature and atmosphere to simulate the low oxidation state of the very early Earth and planetesimals. In a particular series of experiments they melted rocks at 1300 C in oxygen-poor conditions and determined how the different volatile elements were evaporated from the molten lava.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">During the experiments each of the elements of interest evaporated by different amounts<strong>. The lava samples were then rapidly cooled and the patterns of element loss determined by chemical analysis. The analyses revealed that the relative losses (volatilities) measured in the molten lava experiments agree very closely with the pattern of depletion observed in the Earth. In particular, indium volatility <\/strong>agrees exactly with its observed abundance in the Earth &#8211; its abundance, turns out not to be an anomaly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Professor Bernard Wood said: <strong>&#8216;Our experiments indicate that the pattern of volatile element depletion in the Earth was established by reaction between molten rock and an oxygen-poor atmosphere<\/strong>. <strong>These reactions may have occurred on the early-formed planetesimals which were accreted<\/strong> to Earth <strong>or possibly during the giant impact which formed the moon and which is believed to have caused large-scale melting of our planet<\/strong>.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">\u00ab<\/span><em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Nuestros experimentos indican que el patr\u00f3n de agotamiento de elementos vol\u00e1tiles en la Tierra se estableci\u00f3 por reacci\u00f3n entre la roca fundida y una atm\u00f3sfera pobre en ox\u00edgeno. Estas reacciones pueden haber ocurrido en los primeros planetesimales formados que se acrecentaron a la Tierra o posiblemente durante el impacto gigante que form\u00f3 la Luna y que se cree que caus\u00f3 el derretimiento a gran escala de nuestro planeta<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Having focused their original experiments on 13 key elements, the team are in the process of looking at how other elements<\/strong>, such as chlorine and iodine, behave under the same conditions. Ashley Norris said: &#8216;Our work shows that interpretation of volatile depletion patterns in the terrestrial planets needs to focus on experimental measurement of element volatillities.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Science_News\/2017\/09\/27\/Study-395-billion-year-old-rocks-contain-earliest-traces-of-life\/8681506545474\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Study: 3.95 billion-year-old rocks contain earliest traces of life<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Estudio: 3,95 mil millones de a\u00f1os de edad, las rocas contienen las primeras huellas de la vida<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Washington (UPI) Sep 27, 2017<br \/>\nA team of Japanese researchers believe they&#8217;ve discovered the oldest known evidence of life on Earth. The scientists found signs of biological activity in 3.95 billion-year-old rocks from Labrador in northeast Canada. The rock samples were formed when Earth was 500 million years old. During the Eoarchaean Era &#8211; the first during which Earth featured a curst &#8211; the planet was covered wit &#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacedaily.com\/reports\/Study_395_billion-year-old_rocks_contain_earliest_traces_of_life_999.html\">read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Life may have gained a foothold on Earth more than 4bn years ago, according to researchers who believe that fragments of carbon found in rocks in Canada are remnants of ancient organisms.Researchers in Japan analysed graphite particles in rocks from the Saglek region of northern Labrador and found that they contained potential traces of life. In work last year, the team dated the band of rocks to 3.95bn years old. Carbon found in 3.95bn-year-old rocks is remnant of ancient life \u2013 researchers. Graphite particles suggest that the first organisms emerged on Earth more than 4bn years ago during one of the most violent periods in our planet\u2019s history<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0Life may have gained a foothold on Earth more than 4bn years ago, according to researchers who believe that fragments of carbon found in rocks in Canada are remnants of ancient organisms. Researchers in Japan analysed graphite particles in rocks from the Saglek region of northern Labrador and found that they contained potential traces of life. In work last year, the team dated the band of rocks to 3.95bn years old. Oldest fossils on Earth discovered in 3.7bn-year-old Greenland rocks. The claim that these rocks contain remnants of life now faces intense <span style=\"color: #008080;\">scrutiny<\/span> from other scientists, but if the research published in Nature stands up, it suggests that the first organisms to emerge on Earth did so during one of the most violent periods in the planet\u2019s history. Until 3.8bn years ago, the Earth was pounded by asteroids and comets left over from the formation of the solar system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><em>La vida pudo haber ganado un pie en la tierra hace m\u00e1s de 4bn a\u00f1os, seg\u00fan los investigadores que creen que los fragmentos del carb\u00f3n encontrados en rocas en Canad\u00e1 son restos de organismos antiguos.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><em>Investigadores en Jap\u00f3n analizaron part\u00edculas de grafito en rocas de la regi\u00f3n de Saglek, en el norte de Labrador, y encontraron que conten\u00edan potenciales rastros de vida. En el trabajo el a\u00f1o pasado, el equipo fech\u00f3 la banda de rocas a 3.95 millones de a\u00f1os.F\u00f3siles m\u00e1s antiguos de la Tierra descubiertos en 3,7 mil millones de a\u00f1os de rocas de Groenlandia<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><span style=\"color: #008080;\">La afirmaci\u00f3n de que estas rocas contienen restos de la vida ahora se enfrenta a un escrutinio intenso de otros cient\u00edficos, pero si la investigaci\u00f3n publicada en la naturaleza se levanta, sugiere que los primeros organismos a surgir en la Tierra lo hizo durante uno de los per\u00edodos m\u00e1s violentos de la historia del planeta . Hasta hace 3.8bn a\u00f1os, la tierra fue golpeada por los asteroides y los cometas sobrantes de la formaci\u00f3n del sistema solar<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2017\/sep\/27\/carbon-found-in-395bn-year-old-rocks-is-remnants-of-ancient-life-say-researchers\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Oldest fossils on Earth discovered in 3.7bn-year-old Greenland rocks<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The claim that these rocks contain remnants of life now faces intense scrutiny from other scientists, but if the research published in Nature stands up, it suggests that the first organisms to emerge on Earth did so during one of the most violent periods in the planet\u2019s history. Until 3.8bn years ago, the Earth was pounded by asteroids and comets left over from the formation of the solar system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacedaily.com\/reports\/Meteors_splashing_into_warm_ponds_sparked_life_on_Earth_study_999.html\"><strong>Meteors splashing into warm ponds sparked life on Earth<\/strong><\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span>by Staff Writers<br \/>\nMiami (AFP) Oct 2, 2017<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.terradaily.com\/reports\/UTA_study_sheds_new_light_on_evolution_999.html\"><strong>UTA study sheds new light on evolution<\/strong><\/a><strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">by Staff Writers<br \/>\nArlington TX (SPX) Oct 05, 2017<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Research from the University of \u00a0Texas at Arlington and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology <span style=\"color: #000000;\">suggests that hydrogen, oxygen, water and carbon dioxide are being generated in the earth&#8217;s mantle hundreds of kilometers below the earth&#8217;s surface<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00ab<strong>This discovery is important as it shows how earth&#8217;s planetary evolution may have happened<\/strong>,\u00bb said Asish Basu, UTA professor of earth and environmental sciences and co-author of the cover paper published in Geology in August.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The researchers focused their <strong>attention on a seven-kilometer thick portion of the earth&#8217;s upper mantle now found in the High Himalayas, at altitudes between 12,000 and 16,000 fe<\/strong>et. This section of the mantle was pushed upwards to the top of the mountains as a result of the Indian Plate pushing north into Asia, displacing the ancient Tethys ocean floor and underlying mantle to create the Himalayan Mountain Belt <strong>around 55 million years ago<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00ab<strong>This is important as it means that we can analyze the nature of the mantle under the earth&#8217;s crust, at depths where drilling cannot reach<\/strong>,\u00bb Basu explained. \u00abOne key <strong>initial discovery was finding microdiamonds whose host rocks originated in the mantle transition zone, at depths between 410 and 660 kilometers below the earth&#8217;s surface<\/strong>.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>By studying the host rocks and associated minerals, the scientists had a unique opportunity to probe the nature of the deep mantle<\/strong>. <strong>They found primary hydrocarbon and hydrogen fluid inclusions along with microdiamonds by using Laser Ramon Spectroscopic study<\/strong>. The discovery also showed that the environment in the deep mantle transition <strong>zone depths where the diamond is formed is devoid of oxygen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The researchers suggest that during the advective transport or mantle up-welling into shallower mantle zones, the hydrocarbon fluids become oxidized and precipitate diamond, a mechanism that may also be responsible for forming larger diamonds like the world&#8217;s most valuable<\/strong>, Koh-i-Noor or Mountain of Light diamond, now in the Queen of England&#8217;s crown.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00ab<strong>We also found that the deep mantle upwelling can oxidize oxygen-impoverished fluids to produce water and carbon dioxide that are well-known to produce deep mantle melting<\/strong>,\u00bb said Souvik Das, UTA post-doctoral research scholar.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abThis means that many of the key compounds affecting evolution like carbon dioxide and water are generated within the mantle,\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Research Report: <a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1130\/G39100.1\">\u00abIn situ peridotitic diamond in Indus ophiolite sourced from hydrocarbon fluids in the mantle transition zone\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">How did life on Earth begin? A study out Monday backs the theory that meteorites splashing into warm ponds leached essential elements that gave rise to the building blocks of life billions of years ago. The report is based on \u00abexhaustive research and calculations\u00bb in astrophysics, geology, chemistry and biology, according a summary provided by McMaster University.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abBecause there are so many inputs from so many different fields, it&#8217;s kind of amazing that it all hangs together,\u00bb said co-author Ralph Pudritz of the McMaster&#8217;s Origins Institute and its Department of Physics and Astronomy. \u00abEach step led very naturally to the next. To have them all lead to a clear picture in the end is saying there&#8217;s something right about this.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The life-giving potential of these so-called \u00abwarm little ponds\u00bb was raised by the famed biologist Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of evolution, in a letter to a friend in 1871.\u00bbBut if (and oh what a big if) we could conceive in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity et cetera present, that a protein compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo still more complex changes,\u00bb he wrote at the time. Since then, researchers have debated whether life emerged in ponds, or in hydrothermal vents along the ocean floor.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The latest study finds ponds were far more likely, because a cycle from wet to dry was needed to bond basic molecular building blocks in the ponds into self-replicating ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules<\/strong>. These <strong>RNA molecules<\/strong> <strong>constituted the first genetic code for life on the planet, and came before DNA, said the findings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abIn order to understand the origin of life, we need to understand Earth as it was billions of years ago,\u00bb said co-author Thomas Henning from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abAs our study shows, astronomy provide a vital part of the answer. The details of how our solar system formed have direct consequences for the origin of life on Earth.\u00bb Between 3.7 and 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was being bombarded by meteors, at a rate about eight to 11 times higher than it does today.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The atmosphere back then was \u00abdominated by volcanic gases, and dry land was scarce as continents were rising out of the global ocean,\u00bb said the PNAS report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Eventually, the ingredients needed to form RNA polymers reached sufficient concentrations in pond water, and bonded together as water levels fell and rose through cycles of precipitation, evaporation and drainage. These early RNA life forms evolved, and gave rise to the development of DNA, the genetic blueprint of higher forms of life. \u00abDNA is too complex to have been the first aspect of life to emerge,\u00bb said Pudritz. \u00abIt had to start with something else, and that is RNA.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The full study appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer-reviewed US journal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.york.ac.uk\/news-and-events\/news\/2017\/research\/interstellar-ice-the-answer-to-birth-of-dna\/\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Could interstellar ice provide the answer to birth of DNA?<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">York UK (SPX) Sep 15, 2017<br \/>\nResearchers at the University of York have shown <strong>that molecules brought to earth in meteorite strikes could potentially be converted into the building blocks of DNA<\/strong>. <strong>They found that organic compounds, called amino nitriles, the molecular precursors to amino acids, were able to use molecules present in interstellar ice to trigger the formation of the backbone molecule, 2-deoxy-D-ribose, of &#8230; <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.spacedaily.com\/reports\/Could_interstellar_ice_provide_the_answer_to_birth_of_DNA_999.html\"><strong>read more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.terradaily.com\/reports\/Evidence_suggests_life_on_Earth_started_after_meteorites_splashed_into_warm_little_ponds_999.html\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Evidence suggests life on Earth started after meteorites splashed into warm little ponds<\/span><\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">by Staff Writers; Hamilton, Canada (SPX) Oct 05, 2017<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Life on Earth began somewhere <\/strong><strong>between 3.7 and 4.5 billion years ago, after meteorites splashed down and leached essential elements into warm little ponds<\/strong><strong>,<\/strong> say scientists at McMaster University and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Their calculations suggest that wet and dry cycles bonded basic molecular building blocks in the ponds&#8217; nutrient-rich broth into self-replicating RNA molecules that constituted the first genetic code for life on the planet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The researchers base their conclusion on exhaustive research and calculations drawing in aspects of astrophysics, geology, chemistry, biology and other disciplines. Though the \u00abwarm little ponds\u00bb concept has been around since Darwin, the researchers have now proven its plausibility through numerous evidence-based calculations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Lead authors Ben K.D. Pearce and Ralph Pudritz, both of the McMaster&#8217;s Origins Institute and its Department of Physics and Astronomy, say available evidence suggests that life began when the Earth was still taking shape, with continents emerging from the oceans, meteorites pelting the planet &#8211; including those bearing the building blocks of life &#8211; and no protective ozone to filter the Sun&#8217;s ultraviolet rays.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abNo one&#8217;s actually run the calculation before,\u00bb says Pearce. \u00abThis is a pretty big beginning. It&#8217;s pretty exciting.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abBecause there are so many inputs from so many different fields, it&#8217;s kind of amazing that it all hangs together,\u00bb Pudritz says. \u00abEach step led very naturally to the next. To have them all lead to a clear picture in the end is saying there&#8217;s something right about this.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Their work, with collaborators Dmitry Semenov and Thomas Henning of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abIn order to understand the origin of life, we need to understand Earth as it was billions of years ago. As our study shows, astronomy provide a vital part of the answer. The details of how our solar system formed have direct consequences for the origin of life on Earth,\u00bb says Thomas Henning, from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and another co-author.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>The spark of life, the authors say, was the creation of RNA polymers: the essential components of nucleotides, delivered by meteorites, reaching sufficient concentrations in pond water and bonding together as water levels fell and rose through cycles of precipitation, evaporation and drainage. The combination of wet and dry conditions was necessary for bonding, the paper says<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In some cases, the researchers believe, favorable conditions saw some of those chains fold over and spontaneously replicate themselves by drawing other nucleotides from their environment, fulfilling one condition for the definition of life. Those polymers were imperfect, capable of improving through Darwinian evolution, fulfilling the other condition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abThat&#8217;s the Holy Grail of experimental origins-of-life chemistry,\u00bb says Pearce.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That rudimentary form of life would give rise to the eventual development of DNA, the genetic blueprint of higher forms of life, which would evolve much later. The world would have been inhabited only by RNA-based life until DNA evolved.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abDNA is too complex to have been the first aspect of life to emerge,\u00bb Pudritz says. \u00abIt had to start with something else, and that is RNA.\u00bb<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The researchers&#8217; calculations show that the necessary conditions were present in thousands of ponds, and that the key combinations for the formation of life were far more likely to have come together in such ponds than in hydrothermal vents, where the leading rival theory holds that life began in roiling fissures in ocean floors, where the elements of life came together in blasts of heated water. The authors of the new paper say such conditions were unlikely to generate life, since the bonding required to form RNA needs both wet and dry cycles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The calculations also appear to eliminate space dust as the source of life-generating nucleotides. Though such dust did indeed carry the right materials, it did not deposit them in sufficient concentration to generate life, the researchers have determined.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time, early in the life of the solar system, meteorites were far more common, and could have landed in thousands of ponds, carrying the building blocks of life. Pearce and Pudritz plan to put the theory to the test next year, when McMaster opens its Origins of Life laboratory that will re-create the pre-life conditions in a sealed environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00abWe&#8217;re thrilled that we can put together a theoretical paper that combines all these threads, makes clear predictions and offers clear ideas that we can take to the laboratory,\u00bb Pudritz says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00bfO fueron los extraterrestres con su portentosa ingenier\u00eda planetaria de Terrasformaci\u00f3n. Fuente: Colaje de im\u00e1genes google En el post que redactamos hace m\u00e1s de ocho a\u00f1os y que llevaba como t\u00edtulo: Sobre los Posibles Or\u00edgenes de la Vida (Entre Jaimito y Mafalda) escrib\u00edamos en clave de humor: \u00a1Veamos Pancho! \u00bfD\u00f3nde est\u00e1 Dios?, a lo cual el gafotas responde: \u201cEn el cielo, en la Tierra y en todas las partes\u201d. Muy bien, como siempre el primero. Veamos ahora Jaimito, \u00bfD\u00f3nde se origin\u00f3 la Vida?. Y para su sorpresa,\u00a0 este trasto de criatura espeta \u00bfdepende de la fuente de informaci\u00f3n cient\u00edfica\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[596,618,588,597,607,606,595],"tags":[46785,46922,47743],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":4}},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149238"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149238"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150009,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149238\/revisions\/150009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madrimasd.org\/blogs\/universo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}