« Beauty and truth in physics: Murray Gell-Mann on TED.com | Main | The Whale Hunt: New work from Jonathan Harris »
06 December 2007
Primordial soup -- and a sandwich?
Philippe Starck talks about how life began in the soupe primordiale -- but this week, researcher Helen Hansma of UCSB hypothesizes that molecules might have first turned into cells -- life -- while sheltered between sheets of mica dunked in that soup. Hansma's "soup and a sandwich" theory was presented Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in Washington, D.C.
The space between two mica sheets, held together by potassium and bathed in salty seawater, is chemically very similar to the space inside a cell, Hansma says. And, she points out, the confined spaces formed by mica layers would have provided the isolation needed for Darwinian evolution. What's more:
The heating and cooling of the day-to-night cycle would have caused the mica sheets to move up and down, and waves would have provided a mechanical energy source as well, according to the new model. Both forms of movement would have caused the forming and breaking of chemical bonds necessary for the earliest biochemistry.
Image: Biological molecules in spaces between mica sheets. Credit: Helen Greenwood Hansma, UCSB
Discuss this Blog Post
Loading Comments... 
Become a Fan of TED
on Facebook
Follow TED on Twitter:
@TEDNews | @TEDTalks
Subscribe to TED RSS feeds:
TED Blog | More RSS Options
Recent Comments
BrokenPen on You asked Seth Godin absolutely anything -- and he answered
swaroopch on The Buzz: Shukla Bose inspires with her story of education
joa1 on How to feed the whole world (the case for white bread): Louise Fresco on TED.com
Christmas on Ze Frank: "Santa ain't fat"
areks on The Buzz: Sunitha Krishnan on the human face of human trafficking
nivashkumar on The Buzz: Pranav Mistry awakens the Sixth Sense
krishnamurthir on The Buzz: Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev meditates on majestic chaos
krishnamurthir on The Buzz: Pranav Mistry awakens the Sixth Sense
nivashkumar on The Buzz: Sunitha Krishnan on the human face of human trafficking
twentytwo on Rebuilding broken states: Ashraf Ghani on TED.com
News from TED
Learn about TEDIndia conference >>
Find all our posts about TEDGlobal 2009 >>
Follow the TED Fellows blog >>
Throw your own TED-style event with TEDx >>
TED takeaway
TED ringtones:
TEDTalks Classic tune in [mp3] [m4r]
TEDTalks Phase II tune in [mp3] [m4r]
Subscribe to TED's weekly newsletter
Get the latest news on the TED Prize on TEDPrize.org >>
Archives
TED Bloggers
Chris Anderson | Curator
June Cohen | Director of TED Media
Amy Novogratz | TED Prize Director
Tom Rielly | Community
Bruno Giussani | TED European Director
Jason Wishnow | Director, Film + Video
Emily McManus | Editor, TED.com
Matthew Trost | Assistant Editor, TED.com
Shanna Carpenter | Writer and Community Organizer, TED.com
Diego Rodriguez | Guestblogger
Jane Wulf | TED Scribe
Blogs we watch
+ TEDPrize.org
+ TED Fellows blog
+ Thomas Dolby | TED Musical Director, blogging at ThomasDolby.com
+ Emeka Okafor | TEDAfrica Director, blogging at Timbuktu Chronicles and Africa Unchained
+ The indispensable Global Voices
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Powered by Movable Type
