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The linked paper is open access: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/proposed-mechanism-for-the-formation-of-p
by andrewflnr 1y ago
The linked paper is open access: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/proposed-mechanism-for-the-formation-of-protocelllike-structures-on-titan/F4093F34F6FD80380CEE909C37B2CECE https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journa...
Among other things, it contains details on what amphiphiles might actually be present on Titan, a very nice set of diagrams explaining their proposed process, and proposals for lab experiments to verify whether the process is possible. I've had a soft spot for the vesicle-first theory of abiogenesis since I first heard of it, so I hope someone runs the experiments. But as far as I can tell, this is all theoretical so far.
- rolph 1y agoamphiphillic vesicles are a stepping stone for persistent molecular forms. essentially a reaction vessel, insulating the contents from the extravesicular mayhem.
- jojobas 1y agoIt's thought that life on Earth started with RNA mayhem, not with vessels to isolate from it.
- andrewflnr 1y agoRNA world is mainstream, but a few scientists have proposed that something like cell membranes, such as these vesicles, came first and provided the environment for more complex chemistry.
- evrimoztamur 1y agoLife exists at the boundaries of density changes. It makes absolutely no sense that the code would precede the hardware, and the hardware needs shielding.
- fooker 1y agoFunny that code did predate hardware.
- cmrx64 1y agotransmembrane proteins are complex hardware of their own…
- andrewflnr 1y agoIn defense of RNA: you know about ribozymes, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribozyme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribozyme Life does not really respect a code/hardware divide.
- oh_fiddlesticks 1y agoThe source code of life is recorded and transmitted using physical matter. Physics very much matters to matter. For development of any information storage systems made of molecules, there must be a supportive development environment. To even start the process of doing anything like what we see happening in a cell, homeostasis must be achieved first, and not inelegantly, its not good enough to have a complete cell wall if it has no ports for entry and exit of nutrients and waste product, thats also known as a coffin. Both the walls and the gates and the information / physical systems to reliably exploit those features must be present at the same time to enable abiogenesis.
- tomrod 1y agoI see where you're coming from, but I think you're thinking across too far over the boundary. Quantum mechanics aren't ordinarily affected by non-sentient life, they're just primitive to the environment at the macro level.
- root_axis 1y agoQuantum mechanics has no relationship to sentience.
- IAmBroom 1y agoThere are a lot of different opinions on how life on Earth started, even amongst scientists studying it, and none of them are strongly supported by substantial, reproduced evidence.
- griffzhowl 1y ago> It's thought that life on Earth started with RNA mayhem, not with vessels to isolate from it. They're not mutually exclusive. You could have various kinds of autocatalytic sets of molecules, including RNA, inside and outside lipid vesicles, and some of them might have re-produced better than others. Anything that could have happened in an open ocean of nuleotides and amino acids could also take place within a lipid vesicle, just that within some vesicle maybe the right concentrations of molecules had at some point emerged that could more easily reproduce itself than in the open ocean where the particular autocatalytic set could be washed away by the surrounding molecular chaos.