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- Scientists create interstellar ice grains in a very cold experience.
- They show that phosphates are formed under these conditions.
- Phosphates are essential elements of molecular biology.
New research claims that life on Earth would not be possible without a key ingredient from an extraterrestrial source. Scientists have identified that
phosphorus, an important component for life, was created in outer space and delivered to Earth by comets or meteorites during the first billion years of its existence. Once here, phosphorus compounds have been incorporated into biomolecules that can be found in the cells of all living creatures on Earth.
Phosphorus, specifically as a derivative
phosphates, is essential in the creation of DNA and cell membranes as well as in the functioning of other major cellular processes. This is also necessary for the creation of bones and teeth. Needless to say, it's a big problem for us, humans. Yet, relative to its importance in biology, it is the least abundantly cosmic element.
According to Cosmos Magazine, it is thought that phosphorus is formed in supernovas, in the middle of exploding stars. It has spread to gases and dust from which new stars and solar systems have been condensed. But to become a phosphate, the element had to undergo a transformation that, according to the researchers, probably occurred in interstellar dust clouds, thanks to the chemical. phosphine, derived from phosphorus. This chemical can also be found in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn, as well as in the gas jets of the comet. 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko – explored in 2014 and 2016 by the Rosetta probe.
Surface science facility in the W.M. of Manoa of the University of Hawaii Keck Research Laboratory in Astrochemistry who conducted the experiment.
Credit: University of Hawaii in Manoa.
To probe the mystery, researchers could not work directly with phosphine because it is highly toxic. So they used an ultra-vacuum chamber that was cooled to 5K (-450 ° F) and recreated
interstellar ice grains. After covering the grains with carbon dioxide, water and phosphine and exposing them to ionizing radiation simulating the cosmic rays in space, scientists have discovered that various phosphate-like chemicals, such as phosphoric acid and diphosphoric acid have been trained. These chemicals are essential elements of molecular biology.
Thus created in deep space, nanoparticles have probably become parts of larger objects – comets or asteroids – that have finally found their way to Earth. Here, the phosphates added key ingredients to the primordial cocktail that finally gave life.
The international research team included the lead author
Andrew Turner (graduate student at the time, now adjunct professor at Pikeville University) and professor of chemistry Ralf Kaiser from the University of Hawaii to Manoa, Cornelia Meinert of the University of Nice in France, as well as Agnes Chang from the Dong Hwa National University of Taiwan.
"On Earth, phosphine is deadly to living things," Turner said. "But in the interstellar medium, an exotic phosphine chemistry can promote rare chemical pathways to initiate the formation of bioreligent molecules such as phosphorus oxoacids, which could eventually trigger the molecular evolution of
life as we know it. "
Discover the new study
"Interstellar synthesis of phosphorus oxoacids", published in the Nature Communications magazine.
Want to see how it's going to live on the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko? Watch this video of the Rosetta Probe:
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