NASA Reproduces a Building Block of Life in Laboratory

[ZombieHorde]

NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life.

Pyrimidine is a ring-shaped molecule made up of carbon and nitrogen and is the basic structure for uracil, part of a genetic code found in ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is central to protein synthesis, but has many other roles.

"We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory under conditions found in space," said Michel Nuevo, research scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. "We are showing that these laboratory processes, which simulate occurrences in outer space, can make a fundamental building block used by living organisms on Earth."

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/uracil.html">The rest of this article can be found at this link.

[eppur_se_muova]

1. dupe nt

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=228&topic_id=58867&mesg_id=58867

[medeak]

3. forget dupe.. I missed the first one

thanks for this post!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. How long before they can make a blade of grass?? I won't hold

my breath.

[Orrex]

4. Give them time. It took the Earth a few billion years

Don't forget that the Earth had a lot more resources at its disposal and didn't have to worry about funding.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. That would be a relevant question if

that were the purpose of the work.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. Your dna strands will stretch out to 5 or 6 feet.... all of the dna in

your body will wrap the earth 5 million times.... I'm just saying it will be awhile before we see any astroturf from these guys.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. I'm saying that making grass is not their intention

This is part of ongoing NASA work to see if/how/how much fundamental organic matter can be produced in space by non-organic processes.

The researchers aren't planning to work their way up to making grass. Your post was utterly disconnected from this news story.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Yes it was. My bad. n/t

[trotsky]

6. I didn't know you were a creationist.

Figures, I guess.