Topic: Titan May Hold Ingredients for Life

[Nemesis]

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The molecules discovered include the five nucleotide bases used by life on Earth to build the genetic materials DNA and RNA: cytosine, adenine, thymine, guanine and uracil, and the two smallest amino acids, glycine and alanine. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.

"At the same time, Titan's atmosphere is more similar to ours than any other atmosphere in the solar system," Hörst said. "In fact, Titan has been called 'Earth frozen in time' because some believe this is what Earth could have looked like early in time."

In some way, Hörst said, the discovery of Earth's life molecules in an alien atmosphere experiment is ironic.

Here is why: The chemistry occurring on Titan might be similar to that occurring on the young Earth that produced biological material and eventually led to the evolution of life. These processes no longer occur in the Earth's atmosphere because of the large abundance of oxygen cutting short the chemical cycles before large molecules have a chance to form. On the other hand, some oxygen is needed to create biological molecules. Titan's atmosphere appears to provide just enough oxygen to supply the raw material for biological molecules, but not enough to quench their formation.

[Bonk]

Reminds me of the old pre-biotic soup experiments. Only now we have the tech to beat it to death. Worth doing.

Hörst and her collaborators mixed the gases found in Titan's atmosphere in a stainless-steel reaction chamber and subjected the mixture to microwaves causing a gas discharge

Analysed the results by High-Res MS, got 5000 compounds. I have about as many questions.

Let me at an experiment like that and imagine what you would get. Not enough time in a life... it kills me.