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Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

phys.org

161–170 of 180 posts

Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#161
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you survived re-entry. Now, you get to survive impact. Seems like the energy released would also be damaging

Generally speaking small molecules aren't damaged by concussive shock.

I was thinking more of heat

Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#162
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would’ve been specifically asteroids from beyond the "frost line", where it’s cold enough for volatile substances to coalesce and stay solid.

"volatile substances" is doing a lot of work. This means water and organics. Literal cold-storage seeds of life.

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Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#163
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most asteroids have slowed to terminal velocity by the time they impact. It’s not nothing, but it’s mostly going to be relevant to physical processes and not chemical ones. You might consider that scientists advanced enough in their field to be launching missions to retrieve dust from asteroids are actually aware of basic facts relevant to their field of study.

You might consider that even concepts like plate tectonics (which frankly are incredibly obvious if one just looks at a map) were considered ridiculous ideas by the most advanced experts in their field at one point. A point not that long ago. I’m not saying the person you are responding too is right - but appealing to authority on something like this has a pretty bad track record.

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Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#164

One longstanding theory is that life first began on Earth when asteroids carrying fundamental elements crashed into our planet long ago. I'm no expert but this sounds strange. Surely those fundamental elements would also form in vast quantities on their own on an entire planet with volcanoes and oceans? Wouldn't a couple asteroids be the literal drop in the ocean in comparison? The missing part is how do they form se…

> I'm no expert but this sounds strange. A cynic might suggest the theory might exist because nobody could figure out how life got started on its own on earth. The thing is I've never found the asteroid theory particularly satisfying either because it simply inserts another abstraction layer, explaining the problem away rather than explaining it. That's not to say it's wrong but, in its current incarnation, it's just…

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Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#165

One longstanding theory is that life first began on Earth when asteroids carrying fundamental elements crashed into our planet long ago. I'm no expert but this sounds strange. Surely those fundamental elements would also form in vast quantities on their own on an entire planet with volcanoes and oceans? Wouldn't a couple asteroids be the literal drop in the ocean in comparison? The missing part is how do they form se…

> One longstanding theory is that life first began on Earth when asteroids carrying fundamental elements crashed into our planet long ago. That theory is bullocks. When an asteroid enters the atmosphere and crashes as high speed on the surface, you get a huge amount of energy that creates an explosion and a destruction of most complex chemical material in the process. It's no mistake that these kind of impacts are co…

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Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't just post slop anyone else could have gotten from AI. It undermines the entire purpose of this site, and reduces the quality of discourse drastically.

GP probably meant he would've relied on chatgpt instead of the help of a kind user to get the same info, not that he would actually post it here.

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Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#167
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have some organic ‘building block’ compounds confirmed frozen on some asteroids. But what we don’t have is any examples of them surviving re-entry. We also have a massive amount of those same compounds already here on the planet. Causality is… tenuous. But not impossible.

Causality was not the point. The point was to refute the seeding hypothesis, and because they found those molecules, the effort to falsify the hypothesis failed. Now we can move on to the next attempt to refute, which, as you say, might be to study whether molecules can survive conditions of reentry. Experiments do not tell us that something IS a certain way; only the ways it is not.

The ideal situation for an expert is to prove causality!

It’s nearly impossible, but it is the holy grail!

This experiment was to try to falsify one theory, yes, but as you note that is a very long way from the actual goal - or the level of certainty that the article is trying to imply.

These articles are written due to funding needs, which is why the articles are the way they are - and why the scientists themselves are likely cringing too when they read these articles. At least until the checks (hopefully) arrive.

Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whats your problem with this topic? Highly confronting posts about nothing. Iterative approach to science seems foreign here.

There's a tremendous amount of confidently stated bullshit on the issue of OoL that I have long since lost all patience with. What's your problem with the debunking of falsehood?

You asked "does it contain ribose"; I answered (with a reputable source) in the affirmative.

Where's the falsehood?

Re: Ryugu asteroid samples contain all DNA and RNA building blocks

#170
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

read up on the RNA world theory, it's so cool

Parts of the RNA world theory are correct, but other parts are completely bogus and completely illogical. What is correct is that RNA must have existed a very long time before DNA, during which RNA was the only nucleic acid. Moreover, self-replicating RNA must have existed before ribosomes and proteins (where "protein" means a polypeptide that is synthesized using a RNA template). It should be obvious that neither ri…

You sound awfully confident about this, given we have no direct evidence for most of your claims. I would find your writing more convincing if you didn't make absolute statements.
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