Chinese Scientists Discover Material in Rock That May Exhibit ‘Origin of Life’

Chinese scientists have recently discovered what's described as "some puzzling stuff in deep-sea rock" that may provide a new and better understanding of the origins of life.

Specifically, the researchers examined the "carbon-rich, somewhat fatty compounds to search for what live forms" were engaged in their formation, or a probable hint of an oil reserve.

As a result, they did not find anything-not even a single trace of bacteria. Following an investigation of all probable explanations, the scientists suggested that organic materials could have originated from nowhere and that the rock itself created them.

In the paper that Geology journal published this month, Professor Pang Peng Xiaotong said, the research team leader, the unusual rock recovered from 21,000-feet under the Pacific Ocean, may create "the first building blocks for the origin of life." Professor Xiaotong is from the Institute of Deep Seas Science and Engineering.

The 'Primordial Soup'

Reports on this new finding specified that scientific initiatives to debunk the myth of life creation could be traced back to a trial conducted by Stanley Miller, then a University of Chicago graduate student.

The mainstream option at that time, reports also said, was that. Life-associated materials could be a "product of life activities."

To come up with a finding, Miller fixed ammonia, methane, and hydrogen with water and had what was identified as "primordial soup" exposed to heat, UV, or ultraviolet light and electricity.

One week after, he got amino acids, as well as other stuff that were proven organic materials could appear from a lifeless world.

However, experts remarked, "The Earth was not a laboratory." There were arguments over where the very first organic substance on this planet emerged.

Some researchers believed the volcanic activity or lightning could have generated it in the atmosphere. Others, on the other hand, argued, it may have originated from the skin in the form of meteorite rain.

The Sample Belonging to 'Serpentinite'

As indicated in the research, the sample belonged to a family of rocks called "serpentinite," formed in tectonic movements, some of them from as deep beneath the surface of the Earth as the mantle.

Essentially, the serpentinite recovered had a considerable number of pores, just a few "nanometers wide." According to Peng and his colleagues, its distinctive structure could offer countless tiny chambers for chemical reactions between oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen atoms to form organic compounds under a particular heat and pressure.

Nevertheless, according to geology professor Lu Hongbo, from the China University of Petroleum, the evidence stays insufficient.

The only agreement among the study community's theories about life's origin is that it occurred following water formation, said Lu. Other than that, he added, "They are all just guesses." This particular study, he continued, "is also a guess."

The rack was retrieved in 2017 from an underwater passage between the US island territory Guam and the archipelago of Palau, also known as the Yap Trench.

The expansion of China into the oceans of the world has returned a complete pace after it got scaled back during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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