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Building Block of Life May Have Come From Deep Space

http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/
http://www.chem.hawaii.edu/

Chemists with the University of Hawaii say that a key building block of life may have come from outer space.

They say that Glycerol, an important molecule in Earth’s living organisms may have formed in space more than 4 billion years ago.

The newly published research paper Synthesis of Prebiotic Glycerol in Interstellar Ices was authored by Professor Ralf Kaiser, and Drs. Surajit Maity and Brant M. Jones of the W.M. Keck Research Laboratoryin Astrochemistry at UH M?noa.

To test their theory the scientists have recreated glycerol in an ultra-high vacuum chamber cooled down to 5 degrees above absolute zero. Scientists froze methanol into pieces the size of a grain of sand.  The grains were then treated with radiation, a process that simulates cosmic rays.  The reaction forms a complex organic compound, specifically glycerol.

The Authors wrote: “Our hope and expectation is to propel astrobiologically related research involving the search for the molecular origin of life in our universe to the next level, ultimately leading to the production of an inventory of biorelevant molecules, which could have seeded the evolution of life as we know it,”.

Ralf Kaiser is a professor with UH’s department of Chemistry.

Kaiser’s team theorizes the glycerol may have traveled to earth in the form of ice on board comets or meteors crashing onto the surface of the planet.

Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.
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