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Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

sciencedirect.com

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Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#11

Post by _bxg1 »

saintgimp wrote: post #4

The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.

As a layman I guessed as much, but wasn't positive. Clickbaity title.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#12

Post by wyattpeak »

greglindahl wrote: post #10
saintgimp wrote: post #4

The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.

"Organic chemistry" is a very common usage of organic in that "contains carbon" sense.

For sure, it's entirely appropriate for the abstract, but it bears pointing out to an audience who might not be familiar with that usage.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#13

Post by pugworthy »

_bxg1 wrote: post #11
saintgimp wrote: post #4

The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.

As a layman I guessed as much, but wasn't positive. Clickbaity title.

Not really - makes a ton of sense if you're an organic chemist.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#14

Post by jerf »

ianai wrote: post #7

Is there any organic chemical that can only be produced by life? Not even sure that’d be possible.

Depends on your personal tolerance for the complexity indicated by the word "chemical". The presence of "deoxyribonucleic acid" on its own does not prove life, as that term covers simple cases of it that could conceivably naturally occur. However, if you've got a multi-million base pair chain of the stuff, wrapped up in chromatin, and bespeckled with all manner of useful-looking biochemical doohickeys attached to it, I'm willing to say that's definitely indicative of life. Is that a "chemical"? I'd certainly call that a "molecule" that could only be produced by life.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#15

Post by rebuilder »

mpoteat wrote: post #8
saintgimp wrote: post #4

The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.

They do mean it that way, though. They mention the possibility of extinct life on Mars in the last paragraph highlight.

They mention their finding "highlights the challenges in store for the research for trace of extinct life in Mars.", which seems different to me.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#16

Post by smartial_arts »

hurrdurr2 wrote: post #5

Just more evidence that life on earth may have been helped along by all this carbon containing/organic matter deposited via meteorites.

Very unlikely, as the concentrations would be quite minute. Nick Lane expands on this in "The Vital Question" book.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#17

Post by bayareanative »

hurrdurr2 wrote: post #5

Just more evidence that life on earth may have been helped along by all this carbon containing/organic matter deposited via meteorites.

That's meaningless. The Earth coalesced from supernova remnants, which included organic compounds, but that doesn't imply living organisms.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#18

Post by CamperBob2 »

ianai wrote: post #7

Is there any organic chemical that can only be produced by life? Not even sure that’d be possible.

I've read that this question can be answered by looking at the chirality of the chemical(s) in question. If the levorotatory and dextrorotatory isomers are unevenly distributed, that's a hint that the substance originated in biological processes.

Not sure if that's still the current thinking, or if it ever was, but I found it interesting when I ran across it.

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#19

Post by raverbashing »

_bxg1 wrote: post #11
saintgimp wrote: post #4

The article uses the word "organic" in a highly technical manner, meaning chemical compounds that contain carbon, and of course we already know that space is filled with that sort of thing. It does NOT mean "organic" in the casual sense of originating from something alive.

As a layman I guessed as much, but wasn't positive. Clickbaity title.

Typical layman response, expecting niche articles to be dumbed down to them

Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton

#20

Post by danieltillett »

ianai wrote: post #7

Is there any organic chemical that can only be produced by life? Not even sure that’d be possible.

In principle or practice? There a large number of secondary product compounds produced by microorganisms that have never been synthetically synthesised, but in theory they all could be.

If you want to prove that an organic compound has come from a living system you look for carbon isotope enrichment or depletion - more C12 and less C13 than found in the environment.

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