[meteorite-list] NPA 12-02-1970 Find Building Blocks of Life in Murchison Meteorite

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Feb 20 21:03:04 2005
Message-ID: <BAY104-F154E753440F230B9DC9B36B3610_at_phx.gbl>

Paper: Syracuse Herald-Journal
City: Syracuse, New York
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 1970
Page: 10

Find Building blocks of life on meteorite

     WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists have discovered the building blocks of
life in a meteorite that crashed into Earth near Murchison, Australia, on
Sept. 23, 1969.
     Amino acids were discovered by space agency researchers working at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in
Mountain View, Calif.
     "The find is probably the first conclusion proof of extraterrestrial
chemical evolution, the chemical processes which preceded the origin of
life," said Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma, head of the research team.
     The discovery could provide a new time sequence for the origin of life
both on Earth and in the Universe.
     The amino acids found - 16 in all - did not appear to be of biological
origin, indicating they evolved chemically.
     Chemical evolution theory holds that various types of energy could
create ever more complex types of molecules, building to extremely intricate
forms that could reproduce themselves.
     Five of the acids found in the Murchison meteorite were of the sort
that are found in living cells, the remainder are very similar to
protein-building molecules, but have no functional role in living organisms.
     "The Ames discovery is not the first report of Amino acids and
hydrocarbons in meteorites. But other reports have been seriously
criticized because of the fact that biological materials may have gotten
into the meteorites after their impact with Earth, " NASA said.
     "Although Earthly contamination of the Murchison meteorite cannot be
rigorously ruled out, its case differs because of a number of proofs of
nonbiological and nonearthly origin resulting from the precise
identifications made in the Ames' work."
     The amino acids in the Murchison meteorite are believed to have formed
4.5 billion years ago, when the Earth was still just part of a gaseous
interstellar cloud.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
http://www.imca.cc

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PDF copy of this article, and most I post (and about 1/2 of those on my
website), is available upon e-mail request.

The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list
server allowed us a search feature the current does not, so I guess this is
more for quick reference and shortening the subject line now.
Received on Sun 20 Feb 2005 09:02:28 PM PST