Author: Stanford University (Sara Zaske)
Published: 2025/03/14
Type of publication: Informative
Pairs: Yeah
Issue: Anthropology and Disability – List of publications
Page content: Synopsis – Introduction – Major – Ideas, updates
Synopsis: Stanford’s study suggests that life construction blocks originated in water spray, not rays, challenging long -standing beliefs about the origins of life on earth.
Why does it matter: The article entitled «Microlightning ‘in water drops may have caused life on Earth», analyzes a study published in the scientific advances of researchers at Stanford University. The study explores how small electrical discharges between the microdropals of water loaded with opposition, called «microlightning», can lead to the formation of essential organic molecules for life, such as Uracil, a DNA and RNA component. This finding offers a new perspective on the origins of life, which suggests that daily phenomena such as waves or waterfalls colliding could have played an important role in the development of life construction blocks. Understanding these natural processes not only enriches our knowledge of the beginnings of life, but also highlights the potential of simple and natural events in the creation of complex organic compounds, Disabled world (DW).
Introduction
Life may not have begun with a dramatic ray in the ocean, but from many exchanges of «smaller microlightning among the drops of water for crashing in waterfalls or breaking waves. New research from Stanford University shows that water sprinkled in a mixture of gases that is believed to be present in the early atmosphere of the earth can lead to the formation of organic molecules with carbon nitrogen bonds, including Uracil, one of the DNA and RNA components.
Main article
The study, published in the magazine Scientific advancesAdd evidence, and a new angle, to the so careless Miller -urey hypothesis, which argues that life on the planet began from lightning. This theory is based on a 1952 experiment that shows that organic compounds could be formed with the application of electricity to a mixture of inorganic water and gases.
In the current study, researchers found that water spray, which produces small electric charges, could do that job alone, without the need for additional electricity.
«Microelectric Dischages Between Oppositely Charged Water Microdroplets Make All The Organic Molecules Observed Previous in the Miller-Urey Experiment, and we proposed that This is a new mechanism for the prebiotic synthesis of molecules that constitutes the Building Blocks of Life,» Said «Said» Said Senior Author Richard Zare, The Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor of Natural Science and Professor of Chemistry in Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences.
The power and potential of microlightning
During a couple of one billion years after its formation, it is believed that the Earth had a swirl of chemicals, but there are almost no organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds, which are essential for proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids, chlorophyll and other compounds that are composed today.
The way in which these biological components emerged have perplexed for a long time scientists, and the Miller-Urey experiment provided a possible explanation: that ray that hits the ocean and interacts with the first gases on the planet such as methane, ammonia and hydrogen could create these organic molecules. Critics of that theory have pointed out that the rays are too rare and the ocean too large and dispersed to make this a realistic cause.
Zee, together with postdoctoral academics Yifan Meng and Yu Xia, and the graduated student Jinheng Xu, propose another possibility with this research. The first team investigated how water drops developed different loads when they were divided by a spray or splashes. They discovered that larger drops often had positive charges, while the smallest were negative. When the opposite load drops approached each other, the sparks jumped between them. Ze calls this «microlightning», since the process is related to the way the energy is built and discharged as rays in the clouds. The researchers used high -speed cameras to document the flashes of light, which are difficult to detect with the human eye.
Although small micro -colightening flashes can be difficult to see, they still have a lot of energy. The researchers demonstrated that the power by sending water aerosols at room temperature to a gas mixture containing nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and ammonia gases, which is believed to be present in the early earth. This resulted in the formation of organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds that include hydrogen cyanide, amino acid glycine and uracil.
The researchers argue that these findings indicate that it was not a ray, but the small sparks made by waves or waterfalls that jumped life on this planet.
«In the early earth, there were water sprays all over the place, in cracks or against rocks, and can accumulate and create this chemical reaction,» Ze said. «I think this surpasses many of the problems that people have with the Miller-Urey hypothesis.»
Zee’s research team focuses on investigating the potential power of small water bits, including the way in which water vapor can help produce ammonia, a key ingredient in fertilizer and how water drops produce hydrogen peroxide spontaneously.
«Usually, we think of water as Benign, but when it is divided in the form of small drops, water is highly reactive,» he said.
Expressions of gratitude
Zee is also a member of the Stanford BIO-X, the Cardiovascular Institute, the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Wu Tsai Institute Neurosciences, as well as an affiliate from the Stanford Woods Institute of Environment.
This research received support from the Office of Scientific Research of the Air Force and the National Foundation of Natural Sciences of China.
Editorial Note: When recreating these conditions in the laboratory, scientists produced essential organic molecules for life, including Uracil, a key component of DNA and RNA. If something as simple as the drops of water that collide can generate the basic components of life, the implications extend far beyond the early earth. This research challenges us to rethink not only our origins but also the potential of life in other parts of the universe. Perhaps the necessary conditions for life are much more common, and much closer, than we ever imagine, Disabled world (DW).
Attribution/source (s): This pairs reviewed publication was selected for publication by the Disabent World (DW) editors due to its relevance for the disability community. Originally written by Stanford University (Sara Zaske) and published on 2025/03/14, this content may have been edited by style, clarity or brevity. For more details or clarifications, Stanford University (Sara Zaske) can be contacted in Stanford.edu NOTE: Disapreded World does not provide any guarantee or endorsement related to this article.
Citing and references
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Quot this page: Stanford University (Sara Zaske). (2025, March 14). Water drops and small ray sparks may have turned on life on earth. Disabled world (DW). Retrieved on March 15, 2025 from www.disapabled-world.com/disability/education/anthropology/microlightning.php
Permanent link: Water drops and small ray sparks may have turned on life on earth: Stanford Study suggests that life construction blocks originated in the water spray, not the rays, challenging long -standing beliefs about the origins of life on earth.
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