Life Begins From The Seabed

Where does life begin from? How can life be formed? This is a question that arguably has no answer. And scientists are still looking for answers to this one question.

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It is not easy to answer how life began. Science bases itself on the evidence and to know how life began, it has to be traced back to Earth's history. This is also the reason humans are looking for a similar planet Earth in the Solar System. If another life exists and only begins, then astronomers can know how life is formed on a planet and whether the same pattern occurs on Earth. But if not, then the search for life on Earth could provide early clues to look for signs of life on other planets.

Life has taken root for 4 billion years on Earth, which was just formed. At that time, the Earth is a planet much different from the Earth we know today. Early earth formed, is a house that is not as friendly now. It's louder, wetter and drenched in more ultraviolet rays than now. Life is believed to start from simple cells and then transform into mushrooms, frogs, elephants, humans and all life on Earth. Again the question, how did it all begin?

Because of the complex life begins with simple life in the past, the biologists trace the life traces that existed in the early days of Earth. This means that life must be able to survive in extreme conditions when the Earth is formed.

Life from the ocean floor

From that search, scientists managed to find microbes that can survive in extreme conditions at low and high temperatures and temperatures, as well as acidic, salty conditions such as seawater, bases and heavy metals with high concentrations classified as dangerous for life now. Microbes are found to be derived from various types of life in the area around the hydrothermal ventilation system on the seafloor.

^{Distribution of hydrothermal vents. This map was created by making use of the InterRidge ver.3.3 database.,wikipedia}

Hydrothermal vents or hydrothermal holes are cracks in the surface of the planet formed by geothermal hot water problems. Hydrothermal ventilation is usually found in areas near active volcanoes, separate moving tectonic plates, ocean floor and hot spots locations on a planet. To search for life on Earth, the intended hydrothermal vent is on the ocean floor.

A recent study conducted by researchers from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California and the Ice World team from the Astrobiology Institute shows that naturally generated electricity in the ocean floor is likely to trigger life.

Based on these findings and based on the theory of the water world, life forms in warm springs on the seafloor as oceans across the Earth are churning. The idea of hydrothermal ventilation as a life-forming site was proposed in 1980, when hydrothermal ventilation was found on the ocean floor near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The found hydrothermal vents are known as Black smokers, which are hot acidic acid holes.

Unlike black smokers, the holes found in this study are softer, colder hydrothermal vents and seep with alkaline fluid in them just as Michael Russel concluded in 1989. One of the basic vents was found in the North Atlantic Ocean in 2000 and known by the name of the lost city.

^{illustration of the lost city of Atlantis,wikimedia}

According to Russel, Life takes advantage of unbalanced conditions on the planet, which occurred billions of years ago in alkaline hydrocarbon vents.

In another theory, it is stated that the chemical compound soup which is the basic building blocks of life is found on the surface of rocks on Earth. In some models of chemical soup, lightning or ultra-violet light is thought to be the trigger of life in a pond.

In the theory of the water world built by Russell and his team, warm hydrothermal vents keep the conditions unequal to the surrounding conditions that are ancient acidic oceans. This acid ocean is supposed to be a provider of free energy that triggers the formation of life.

In fact, ventilation can also cause 2 chemical imbalances. The first is the proton gradient. The proton gradient is a proton that is concentrated outside the ventilation chimney or so-called mineral membrane. The proton gradient can be tapped as energy the same as that of the cell structure in the human body that we know as mitochondria.

The second imbalance involves an electric gradient between the hydrothermal fluid and the oceans. Billions last year, when the Earth was young, the sea is still very rich with carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide from the oceans and fuels (hydrogen and methane) from the vents meet in the chimney walls, electron transfer occurs. These reactions trigger the formation of organic compounds or complex carbon compounds. These compounds are the basic ingredients of life that we know today. And just like the proton gradient, the electron transfer process also occurs in the mitochondria.

For complex life forms, enzymes play an important role to trigger chemical reactions. In ancient oceans on Earth, minerals act like enzymes, interact with chemical compounds and trigger reactions. In the water world theory, the two different mineral machines are thought to have existed in the ventilation chimney wall structure.

According to Russel who led this research, mineral machinery can be analogous to the car in the present. The engine makes the car move by consuming fuel and disposing of smoke. DNA and RNA have different functions. They act like computers in the car that guide the processes that occur rather than cause the process.

^{Molybdenum crystal.wikimedia}

One small machine supposedly uses minerals known as green spheres, which can take advantage of the proton gradient in producing phosphate-containing molecules to store energy. Other machines are thought to rely on a rare metal called molybdenum that has a number of 42. The metal exists in the human body in various enzymes. Molybdenum serves to help transfer two electrons at a time and is very useful to induce important chemical reactions required.

Michael Russel himself has made the theory of the water world and has been continuously conducting research for 25 years since the mission of spacecraft discovered the existence of oceans and seabed from rocks at Europa and Enceladus. The early theories of life are not only for Earth but also for other rocky planets. Testing on Earth can be an example for application to conditions on other planets.

Whether the basic hydrothermal ventilation is the place where life hatches, is still a question. And the journey to understand where life comes from is still a topic that will continue to be scrutinized over the next few decades. Or even several centuries? Thank you for your time!