Charged water droplets generate sparks that can forge organic compounds
Earth, in its infancy, swirled with all the gases needed to construct life. But they couldn't just assemble themselves into the building blocks of biology. That process, called "prebiotic synthesis," required a jolt from the outside. Lightning was an obvious suspect. So in 1952 a young chemist named Stanley Miller filled a flask halfway with water, topped it with methane, ammonia and hydrogen to mimic the planet's early atmosphere and then flung a miniature lightning bolt into that fertile soup. In this landmark experiment, Miller produced several amino acids out of inorganic molecules. (Amino acids combine to form proteins, which in turn combine to form living organisms.) He thus showed how life could have found its first foothold. But real lightning would have struck infrequently—and mostly in open ocean, where organic compounds would have quickly dispersed. Seven decades later, new research points to a more realistic catalyst: water itself. Today in Science Advances, Stanford University chemist Richard Zare and his colleagues report that organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds can be formed by simply spraying water into a mix of atmospheric gases. The researchers basically replicated the chemical reactions from Miller's experiment, but this time those reactions were achieved with a reliable energy source. "Unlike lightning," Zare says, "water sprays are everywhere." Each waterfall and wave, he suggests, brought a spark of opportunity for life to emerge. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are…