"Arguably one of the foundational experiments in astrobiology was 1853's now infamous "Miller and Urey Experiment." Scientists from the University of Chicago Stanley Miller and Harold Urey simulated conditions on the primeval Earth and showed the chemical compounds that are considered the foundational building blocks of life arose naturally from simple chemical processes. Their experiment found that with just water, ammonia, hydrogen and methane as well as an electrical spark to mimic lightning, several protein precursors (necessary for life) including amino acids were formed."
My observation. 1853 does not look correct here, perhaps 1953? The article does acknowledge that abiogenesis doctrine for the origin of life is the foundation of astrobiology efforts to find life somewhere else, other than Earth. Charles Darwin postulated his warm litter pond in letters in the early 1880s where chemicals would lead to the first living cell, where all life on Earth evolves from. We know today the early Precambrian Earth was fraught with much more catastrophism and bombardment than a warm little pond. In my thinking, the *electrical spark to mimic lightning* needs much more modeling involving very extensive catastrophism now for when life is said to evolve from non-living matter on Earth, and impact of the Faint Young Sun too. There are other reports by space.com that show the first life on Earth had no cell structure or DNA.
What if we thought of our ancestors as a form of alien life? Imagining early Earth as an exoplanet can help us search for alien life, scientists say : Read more
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