Washington, Oct 5 (ANI): A new hypothesis on the origin of life has claimed that the pumice, a glassy, porous rock, may have given rise to early forms of life.
Martin Brasier, Richard Matthewman, and Sean McMahon, University of Oxford and David Wacey, University of Western Australia, argue that pumice has "four remarkable properties" that would enable it to have had "a significant role in the origin of life and provided an important habitat for the earliest communities of micro organisms".
To authenticate their hypothesis, the authors conducted laboratory research to test the ability of pumice rock to adsorb organic compounds from water and create catalysts and new compounds by simulating the thermal cycles, UV light, and other conditions that existed when the first organic polymers and microbes co-existed.
"The hypothesis that pumice provided a unique physical substrate in which life got its start is exciting and testable," Sherry L. Cady, Department of Geology at Portland State University, said.
"Key for astrobiology is whether such rock types preserved evidence of pre-biotic reactions or ancient life forms in the rock record," Cady added. The study has been published in Astrobiology. (ANI)
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