Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#2JFC... "Ga"? Is that Giga Anums?
Why? Why use such an obscure notation of units? This headline is completely cryptic with such an expression.
Is it old? Is that possibly a unit of volume or mass for sediment? I'm not a sediment expert.
Are they fossils? Is it a ratio of matter to unit sediments, as a factor of scale and ratio?
Barberton? Is that a province? A town? A region? A district? An oblast?
WTF is even going on with this headline? Sheesh!
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#3Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#4The 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.
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#5Just more evidence that life on earth may have been helped along by all this carbon containing/organic matter deposited via meteorites.
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#6Some analysis: https://www.sciencealert.com/traces-of-extraterrestrial-orga...
Still scanning but I think one must keep in mind the distinction between "organic matter" and "biological matter", organic is a broad category that involving a complex array of chemicals that aren't necessarily generated by living things. Biological material or similar terms refer to stuff that definitely is or was once alive.
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#7Is there any organic chemical that can only be produced by life? Not even sure that’d be possible.
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#8The 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.
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#9Some analysis: https://www.sciencealert.com/traces-of-extraterrestrial-orga...
Still scanning but I think one must keep in mind the distinction between "organic matter" and "biological matter", organic is a broad category that involving a complex array of chemicals that aren't necessarily generated by living things. Biological material or similar terms refer to stuff that definitely is or was once alive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_matter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogenic_substan…
I think the paper stated that the organic matter was similar to those found in some Archaean fossils in the area and other parts of the world, so it seems to be an interesting find
Of course it’s all too easy for a layman such as myself to read too deeply into things and draw unfounded conclusions about the origins of life. And if I recall, the rock is newer than the oldest known fossils, so I’ll keep a little distance on that conclusion for now
But it was pleasant to read about the earliest known fossils, so that’ll be my current takeaway on this
Re: Extraterrestrial organic matter preserved in 3.33 Ga sediments from Barberton
#10The 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.