Chinese scientists find material in rock that ‘may show origin of life’
- Discovery may support a relatively obscure theory that life came from rocks
- But some in the research community, which is divided on life’s origins, still regard the theory as speculative
They analysed the carbon-rich, somewhat fatty compounds to look for what life forms were involved in their formation, or a possible hint of an oil reserve.
They found none, not even a trace of bacteria. After examining all possible explanations, the researchers proposed that the organic materials could have come from nowhere and were created by the rock itself.
The unusual rock, retrieved from 6,400 metres (21,000 feet) under the Pacific Ocean, may “generate the first building blocks for the origin of life”, said the team, led by Professor Peng Xiaotong of the Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, in a paper published in journal Geology this month.
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Scientific efforts to debunk the myth of life creation could be traced back to an experiment conducted by Stanley Miller, then a graduate student at the University of Chicago, in 1953. The mainstream opinion then was that life-related materials could be a product only of life activities.