Embedded Files
What minerals form at hadean hydrothermal vents? Are they catalytic? Is it possible to use a pH gradient between inside and outside to do chemical "work"?
What minerals form at hadean hydrothermal vents? Are they catalytic? Is it possible to use a pH gradient between inside and outside to do chemical "work"?
In 1989 Michael Russell began growing simulated hydrothermal vent chimneys in the laboratory, having recognized that relatively cool, sulfidic, and off axis hydrothermal vents would have existed in the earliest oceans. Basic on the inside, and neutral or mildly acidic on the outside like a cell is today, Russell hypothesized that the initial disequilibria to organize prebiotic chemistry could be found here. Can it? let's try and see...
In 1989 Michael Russell began growing simulated hydrothermal vent chimneys in the laboratory, having recognized that relatively cool, sulfidic, and off axis hydrothermal vents would have existed in the earliest oceans. Basic on the inside, and neutral or mildly acidic on the outside like a cell is today, Russell hypothesized that the initial disequilibria to organize prebiotic chemistry could be found here. Can it? let's try and see...
Going further, can geo-inspired chemistry be applied to today's problems? We think so.
Going further, can geo-inspired chemistry be applied to today's problems? We think so.
By conducting experiments which simulate fluid flow at hydrothermal vents, we discovered a new di-nitrogen to ammonium process. This process may have supplied nitrogen to the very first metabolic networks. In addition it may be used to supply nitrogen to our very own metabolic network today. Finally, we imagine taking this technology into space to provide local, low energy, distributable nitrogen to space explorers in the future.
Techniques used:
Techniques used:
Fluidics ・ NMR ・ UPLC-MS/MS ・synchotron radiation spectroscopy ・Raman spectroscopy ・Electron microscopy
Fluidics ・ NMR ・ UPLC-MS/MS ・synchotron radiation spectroscopy ・Raman spectroscopy ・Electron microscopy
some previous works in this area:
some previous works in this area:
Carbon reduction powered by natural electrochemical gradients under submarine hydrothermal vent conditions. T Altair, D Eleftheria-Sofia, V Sojo, Y Li, S Skiffington, W Sulliven, G Drozd, SE McGlynn, D Galante, V Hamilton, R Hudson. Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol 147/Issue 32, 2025.
SE McGlynn, I Kanik, MJ Russell, SE McGlynn, I Kanik, MJ Russell
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
Iron-sulfide-bearing chimneys as potential catalytic energy traps at life's emergence
RE Mielke, KJ Robinson, LM White, SE McGlynn, K McEachern, R Bhartia, ...
Astrobiology 11 (10), 933-950
Design, fabrication, and test of a hydrothermal reactor for origin-of-life experiments
RE Mielke, MJ Russell, PR Wilson, SE McGlynn, M Coleman, R Kidd, ...
Astrobiology 10 (8), 799-810
Report abuse