(January 5, 2018 at 8:15 am)alpha male Wrote:(January 4, 2018 at 6:39 pm)polymath257 Wrote: No, but it does produce microspheres that encompass materials the catalyze basic reactions of life (like glucolysis). These microsphere will bud and split.
So while not life (yet),
Yep.
Quote:they are much closer than most people are aware.
It's interesting anyway. Got links to peer-reviewed sources?
For protenoid microspheres, look up articles by Sidney Fox. These are older: back to the 1970s. For lipid microspheres, here is a good one to start with (unfortunately behind a paywall):
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/art...via%3Dihub
I actually suspect multiple lines of chemical changes leading to the first life. The iron sulfur aspects, for example, probably came from deep sea vents. Some of the early polymerization was more likely to happen in small ponds undergoing cycles of drying and re-wetting.
It is a fact that we have not produced artificial life. But it is also a fact that we understand much more about the basic chemistry required than we did 30 years ago. And, that new understanding makes abiogenesis more likely rather than less.