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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 01/01/2006 : 03:54:31 [Permalink]
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I always figger that people other than Bill, or whoever, will be reading (or ignoring) the post. I'd rather reach them, even though I'll probably never know for sure of their existance.
Abiogenesis is a fascinating topic. At first blush, it looks like the hydrothermal vents might not only be the cradle of life on earth, but they might still be producing proto-bacteria today. Everything seems to be in place: the chemestry, the energy, and a reliable nutrient scorce. When first I read of them, I thought, after the obligitory, 11 second coffee ceremony: that's gotta be it!
But is it? While all of the goodies a thermophilic micro-organism might enjoy are there, we don't know the exact chemestry of the sea water lo, these billions of years ago. Like everything else, these bacteria have evolved, as have the creatures that live in association with them. It could be that our present seas are are poisonous to newly minted life forms, and although they might be still produced from the vents, they all end up DOA. It is concievable that, if the vents were the cradle, it might have been pretty much a one-shot event.
Just a thought -- no support for it.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 01/01/2006 : 10:59:15 [Permalink]
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There are good points to your reasoning, Filthy.
As life evolve from the first sparks, the competition makes them (the bacteria) more apt at taking care of the resources that was there to live on. As they evolve they get more robust as more and more DNA ensure the survival of them.
In the light of these more evolveed extremophiles, how could newly formed "abiogenesis"-originating bacteria hope to compete with bacteria that has already gone several rounds in ring-of-ropes against their peers? Once life managed to spread to most biotopes, the presense of already living bacteria will effectively block any new abiogenesis by consuming the resources present for abiogenesis, or by simple consuming the products of the "new" abiogenesis.
I'm afraid we will only be able to study abiogenesis in the lab and in computer simulations. But not in Nature.
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| Edited by - Dr. Mabuse on 01/01/2006 13:35:23 |
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Topic Locked
