I think it increasingly likely that DNA first formed in space when the ambient temperature of the universe allowed liquid water. How else does a LUCA appear as if life on earth was a fait accompli, in the wake of a collision with another planet no less.

Edit: probably not

[–] BlackLaZoR@kbin.run 28 points 1 year ago

It was grabbing a toehold even when our world was a literal hellscape.

Actually this makes sense in the context of autocatalytic sets hypothesis - you'd need large variety of inorganic compounds and a strong energy gradient to kickstart a metabolism.

There's great video on the subject from Sabine Hossenfelder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yOiZLHDV3U

Part I'm talking about starts at 15:48

load more comments (8 replies)