[meteorite-list] NPA 12-02-1970 Find Building Blocks of Life in Murchison Meteorite

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Syracuse Herald-Journal
City: Syracuse, New York
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 1970
Page: 10

Find Building blocks of life on meteorite

     WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists have discovered the building blocks of 
life in a meteorite that crashed into Earth near Murchison, Australia, on 
Sept. 23, 1969.
     Amino acids were discovered by space agency researchers working at the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in 
Mountain View, Calif.
     "The find is probably the first conclusion proof of extraterrestrial 
chemical evolution, the chemical processes which preceded the origin of 
life," said Dr. Cyril Ponnamperuma, head of the research team.
     The discovery could provide a new time sequence for the origin of life 
both on Earth and in the Universe.
     The amino acids found - 16 in all - did not appear to be of biological 
origin, indicating they evolved chemically.
     Chemical evolution theory holds that various types of energy could 
create ever more complex types of molecules, building to extremely intricate 
forms that could reproduce themselves.
     Five of the acids found in the Murchison meteorite were of the sort 
that are found in living cells, the remainder are very similar to 
protein-building molecules, but have no functional role in living organisms.
     "The Ames discovery is not the first report of Amino acids and 
hydrocarbons in meteorites.  But other reports have been seriously 
criticized because of the fact that biological materials may have gotten 
into the meteorites after their impact with Earth, " NASA said.
     "Although Earthly contamination of the Murchison meteorite cannot be 
rigorously ruled out, its case differs because of a number of proofs of 
nonbiological and nonearthly origin resulting from the precise 
identifications made in the Ames' work."
     The amino acids in the Murchison meteorite are believed to have formed 
4.5 billion years ago, when the Earth was still just part of a gaseous 
interstellar cloud.

(end)

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas
http://www.meteoritearticles.com
http://www.kansasmeteoritesociety.com
http://www.imca.cc

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PDF copy of this article, and most I post (and about 1/2 of those on my 
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The NPA in the subject line, stands for Newspaper Article. The old list 
server allowed us a search feature the current does not, so I guess this is 
more for quick reference and shortening the subject line now.