For those who may be interested there is a programme on BBC4 tonight which explores the connection between asteriod/meteroids and life.

It is said to be new and about examination of lunar crarters and rocks from them.

8PM BST BBC4

Sparks of Life

6 minutes ago, studiot said:

For those who may be interested there is a programme on BBC4 tonight which explores the connection between asteriod/meteroids and life.

It is said to be new and about examination of lunar crarters and rocks from them.

8PM BST BBC4

Sparks of Life

The blurb:

"Asteroids: Spark of Life?

Exploring if the destructive impacts of asteroids on Earth four billion years ago may have provided the essential ingredients needed for life to ignite on the planet. Scientists examine the deep past embedded in South African and Australian rocks, the surface of the moon, and asteroid dust taken from space and ancient impact craters to develop this revolutionary theory"

On again tomorrow night at 2.45 am

Edited October 21Oct 21 by geordief

I don’t have a TV. Did anyone learn anything worth posting from this programme? I’m aware that comets may have brought water and that heterocyclic aromatic compounds suitable to form the bases in RNA or DNA have been found in meteorites. Was it about those or something else?

6 minutes ago, exchemist said:

I don’t have a TV. Did anyone learn anything worth posting from this programme? I’m aware that comets may have brought water and that heterocyclic aromatic compounds suitable to form the bases in RNA or DNA have been found in meteorites. Was it about those or something else?

Well they were suggesting that ,during the Hadean era there were Hydrothermal systems ,some 10 times larger than Yellowstone (and that the planet was more or less "rabbit burrowed" with them) caused by the incessant bombardments from comets) and that this could have initiated life in those conditions.

They also found fossilized evidence from the Archaean period that indicated that life began earlier than thought (maybe in the Hadean period)

The whole thing is also on Youtube (PBS)

I thought it was very good.

Edited October 29Oct 29 by geordief

2 hours ago, geordief said:

I thought it was very good.

A better programme may have mentioned the word "catalysis" at least once.

Also that if a particular chemical species does not exist at one particular time and place, then its removal rate is zero, while it's chance of production can never be. This asymmetry is enough to guarantee that if it can occur then sometime, somewhere, it will. For a truly self-replicating molecule, once is enough.

The actual 'spark of life' was a rare but under the prevailing conditions, inevitable mechanism occurring at the molecular level. Without this insight, the global fireworks provided no real insight. Just the usual hyperbolic clickbait.

Liked the geology side though, even if the biology was a bit of a damp squib.

5 hours ago, sethoflagos said:

A better programme may have mentioned the word "catalysis" at least once.

Also that if a particular chemical species does not exist at one particular time and place, then its removal rate is zero, while it's chance of production can never be. This asymmetry is enough to guarantee that if it can occur then sometime, somewhere, it will. For a truly self-replicating molecule, once is enough.

The actual 'spark of life' was a rare but under the prevailing conditions, inevitable mechanism occurring at the molecular level. Without this insight, the global fireworks provided no real insight. Just the usual hyperbolic clickbait.

Liked the geology side though, even if the biology was a bit of a damp squib.

Does this pour cold water on the idea?

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1148967

"Using computer modelling, the researchers determined that comets travel too fast and at too sharp an angle to Earth’s atmosphere for the fragile organic molecules to survive: they would almost certainly vaporise on impact with the surface. However, the researchers also found that another planet in our system – Mars – could be a slightly more promising candidate for cometary delivery of prebiotic molecules, although this is still highly unlikely. The results are published in the journal Scientific Reports."

1 hour ago, geordief said:

Does this pour cold water on the idea?

The earth is a sufficiently large environment and a billion years a sufficiently long time for the term "almost certainly" to be pretty unconvincing.

PS I had to switch my VPN to Italy to get that video to load.