This finding invalidates the idea that Bennu was seeded with molecules by biological life: biological life would have created chiral molecules, but the mix on Bennu is racemic, which suggests that the molecules were created by run of the mill geological processes and simply wouldn't require extraterrestrial seeding.
Tldr the finding is that abiogenesis may be easier to get to than previously thought.
> Tldr the finding is that abiogenesis may be easier to get to than previously thought.
It doesn't really mean that, though. We already knew synthesis of simple amino acids was pretty easy. Urey-Miller did that decades ago. Making the easy part of a multistep process easier doesn't make the whole process much easier.
IMO, the rate-limiting step for OoL is later, when by some means the enormous complexity barrier is reached between abiotic stuff like this and the simplest self-replicating system capable of evolution. Of the latter, the simplest we know (the most stripped down cell) still contains billions of atoms.
literalAardvark|1 year ago
Tldr the finding is that abiogenesis may be easier to get to than previously thought.
pfdietz|1 year ago
It doesn't really mean that, though. We already knew synthesis of simple amino acids was pretty easy. Urey-Miller did that decades ago. Making the easy part of a multistep process easier doesn't make the whole process much easier.
IMO, the rate-limiting step for OoL is later, when by some means the enormous complexity barrier is reached between abiotic stuff like this and the simplest self-replicating system capable of evolution. Of the latter, the simplest we know (the most stripped down cell) still contains billions of atoms.