Lifelike biochemistry continued to unfold in sterilized soil

(quantamagazine.org)

84 points | by speckx 2 hours ago

4 comments

  • buildsjets 42 minutes ago
    Reminds me of the Gamma Forest at Brookhaven National Labs. From 1961 thru 1978 they irradiated a section of the pine barrens forest with a cesium-137 source just to see what would happen. It sterilized the soil and hardly anything grows there, almost 50 years later.

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/pJYr6qiZnMdVwLJS6

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/brookhaven-gamma-forest

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsuiLxcDuHY&t=925s

    • ErroneousBosh 37 minutes ago
      I'm guessing the distinct lack of Google Streetview on that circular bit of road nearby and the tracks implies a certain amount of resistance to access if you get off that dual carriageway to the west?
  • JackFr 43 minutes ago
    Obligatory Asimov: 'The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not "Eureka!" but 'That's funny...”'
  • emsign 33 minutes ago
    This is huge news if true for evaluating soil experiments on Mars. They could give false positives for life if they only look for metabolic products.
    • cogman10 18 minutes ago
      Not as much as you might think.

      We've found amino acids almost everywhere we look, including astroids [1].

      It seems that the building blocks of life pretty naturally and readily form. Which is a pretty strong indicator that life is likely fairly common outside earth.

      [1] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-asteroid-bennu-sampl...

  • j16sdiz 52 minutes ago
    It feels next would be trying isolate the component that make CO2. Try to use smaller sample. Put them under microscope, etc.