In 1922, Alexander Oparin theorized that the basic building blocks of life were synthesized in the early Earth from methane, hydrogen gas, water vapor, carbon dioxide and and gaseous ammonia. A contemporary, J.B.S. Haldane, also held this view; it became known as the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis and commonly referred to as primordial soup. In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey put the Oparin-Haldane hypothesis to the test by mixing these gases and liquid water in a closed system and zapping the mixture with electrodes. Within a day, the mixture turned pink in color, and after two weeks they discovered that they had created several amino acids and even sugars. Miller had originally stated that 11 out of the 20 amino acids that exist in nature on Earth today were found in the substance. Miller sealed containers with samples from the experiment, and when they were opened after his death in 2007, scientists were able to identify 22 different amino acids -- more than exist in nature today! A further experiment of Millers, using updated theories about Earths early environment, yielded a greater 25 different amino acids, and a meteorite which fell in Virginia was found to contain 90 different amino acids (19 of which occur in nature on Earth). These gases and lightning-inducing storms are common on other planets in our solar system, and as such likely exist in other star systems and even other galaxies. If the theory of abiotic genesis is in fact true, this means that the universe could be teeming with life. And given that we know that there are hunks of space debris with more than 4x the number of amino acids present on Earth, these prospective species may be much stranger than anything weve imagined. THAT SAID... it is highly unlikely that any intelligent life has visited us. This is just a simple matter of logic and mathematics: 1) We are the only intelligent species in our solar system, this is observable. 2) We sit on the outside edge of a spiral galaxy, and not even fixed in a spiral arm of said galaxy, meaning we live in an area of space which is not dense with stars. 3) Very few planets exist in an orbit where they are likely to have temperatures safe for life as we know it. 4) Very few nearby stars have any confirmed planets around them. From this, we can figure that if intelligent life is out there, our signals of intelligence have not yet reached them. And since we are located in (almost literally) the middle of nowhere; why would an intelligent species travel here unless to occupy or harvest resources from one of our planets (most likely, Earth)?
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 05:56:30 +0000