The question of how life began on Earth has always been a mystery since the beginning of time. Although it is a more existential question, science is sure to play an integral role on how life on the planet came to be. Since the ancient times, scientists have always been on the search for answers to this age-old question but to no avail. However, latest discoveries may finally bring a new light to the darkness of what happened millions of years ago.
A study from the Journal of Physical Chemistry has discovered that sunlight plays an important role in creating chemical reactions in the atmosphere that may have led to the formation of life on Earth. According to the study, an interaction between aerosols and sunlight has pushed for the mysterious formation of carbon-containing particles in the atmosphere. They have discovered that pyruvic acid, working hand in hand with UV from sunlight, can create organic aerosols, or carbon-containing particles in the atmosphere.
According to a report from CBS News, this discovery is related to a new found theory about how sunlight provides energy in the production of molecules that are precursors to living beings. Pyruvic acid, as is known for its ability to provide energy to living cells, can be transformed to a more complex molecule when exposed to light. Sometimes, the newly produced molecules are similar to the lipids existing in modern cells.
Millions of years ago, during a time when oxygen was not abundant in the atmosphere, ultraviolet rays from the sun go to the surface of the Earth unfiltered. With the abundant amount of energy coming from sunlight, a significant amount of large molecules may have been developed and may have been useful to develop biology.
This new theory is an exciting find for Science and may be a great chunk of information that could fill a gap of knowledge existing in those millions of years before the time of humans. As of the moment, further studies are still being done to confirm such discovery.
