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Science

Natural Affinities of RNA Components Could Have Led To Life 30

vinces99 writes "The chemical components crucial to the start of life on Earth may have primed and protected each other in never-before-realized ways, according to new research led by University of Washington scientists. That could mean a simpler scenario for how that first spark of life on the planet came about. Scientists have long thought that life started when the right combination of bases and sugars produced self-replicating ribonucleic acid, or RNA, inside a rudimentary 'cell' composed of fatty acids. Under the right conditions, fatty acids naturally form into bag-like structures similar to today's cell membranes. In testing one of the fatty acids representative of those found before life began – decanoic acid – the scientists discovered that the four bases in RNA bound more readily to the decanoic acid than did the other seven bases tested. By concentrating more of the bases and sugar that are the building blocks of RNA, the system would have been primed for the next steps, reactions that led to RNA inside a bag."
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Natural Affinities of RNA Components Could Have Led To Life

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  • Fools (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 29, 2013 @05:34PM (#44417245)

    Tell me, you foolish evolutionist. When did the tear duct and the gland that produces the tears that keep the eye lubricated develop itself? God has truly made a fitting place for all of you to spend eternity - the lake of fire!

  • Re:Fools (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Monday July 29, 2013 @07:11PM (#44418035) Journal

    When did the tear duct and the gland that produces the tears that keep the eye lubricated develop itself? God has...

    Obviously the first land creature used duct tape; it does everything.

Neutrinos have bad breadth.

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