Building block of life found on comet

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The amino acid glycine, a fundamental building block of proteins, has been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory that raw ingredients of life arrived on Earth from outer space, scientists said on Monday.

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Chains of amino acids are strung together to form protein molecules in everything from hair to the enzymes that regulate chemical reactions inside living organisms. But scientists have long puzzled over whether these complex organic compounds originated on Earth or in space.

The latest findings add credence to the notion that extraterrestrial objects such as meteorites and comets may have seeded ancient Earth, and other planets, with the raw materials of life that formed elsewhere in the cosmos.

"The discovery of glycine in a comet supports the idea that the fundamental building blocks of life are prevalent in space, and strengthens the argument that life in the universe may be common rather than rare," said Carl Pilcher, the director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in California, which co-funded the research.

/... http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57H02I20090818

A billion-year old carbon...


--says Joni.

For example, the "Murchison meteorite" from 1969 was found to contain a number of amino acids, including glycine, and because of their "handedness" it's known that this wasn't due to Earthly contamination. So we've known for a long time that amino acids are "out there".

I wonder what the fundies think of this. Right here refutes their "don't know how life starts" bullshit!

This is just evidence that the building blocks didn't need to be made on Earth: useful to know, but just part of the jigsaw.