Boost to Chances of Life on Europa?

Gavinsblog writes "New Scientist is reporting that scientists have found that electricity is produced when aluminium bullets are fired into a block of ice. This raises the chances of finding life on Europa, as eletrical shocks of this kind could cause complex molecules to form. An electrifying discovery? :-)"

Comments

Re:Miller-Urey is pointless

[CheshireCatCO]

The point of the Urey-Miller experiment wasn't to show the way organics were produced, it was to demonstrate that they CAN be produced by such methods. Similar experiments have been run with dozens of permutations on the atmosphere and energy sources, and they generally produce organics. In fact, a range of different experiments with a variety of catalysts, like some clays, have also been performed, with similar results. A quick literature search would have told you that.

The point of these experiments is not to reproduce the early-Earth conditions exactly. We still don't know what those are. But the fact that such a wide variety of conditions produce organics is an indication that the goop is easy to form and probably did so on the early-Earth, regardless of the conditions.

(Your point about the chirality of the amino acids is a red herring. There is no reason to think that life was formed in a soup of only one chirality. All we know is that somehow life on Earth has evolved to use only one of those. It isn't hard to imagine that one or the other might have a slight advantage or even that life had to - at some early stage - chose just one and use it. Dealing with both L and D forms all the time would probably require a lot more effort than it's worth.)

Re:Over-hyping?

[CheshireCatCO]

Yeah, I can't argue with the showmanship aspect to science. I'm actually slightly guilty of playing the astrobiology card in a paper that I've written.

I'm not sure you'll see heat build-up, though. The sparks probably won't produce much energy, certainly less than the thermal energy produced directly by the impact. And that diffuses away fairly quickly at these temperatures. I forget the the exact timescales, but recall that passing into and out of Jupiter's shadow is enough time for the moons to heat and cool significantly. That timescale is of order a day or few.

Aluminum block != asteroid

[ggwood]

Anyone have a clear idea why Aluminum blocks would make a good simulation of an asteroid? Naively, I would expect asteroids to be a more loosely packed amalgam of low Z elements - and thus would deliver a smaller shock and thus a smaller electrical current.