Early Earth Atmosphere Favourable to Life

mathinator writes "A study by researchers at the University of Waterloo indicates that Earth in its infancy probably had substantial quantities of hydrogen in its atmosphere, a surprising finding that may alter the way many scientists think about how life began on the planet. The new study indicates that up to 40 percent of the early atmosphere was hydrogen, implying a more favourable climate for the production of pre-biotic organic compounds like amino acids, and ultimately, life. The paper was authored by doctoral student Feng Tian, Prof. Owen Toon and Research Associate Alexander Pavlov of CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and by Prof. Hans De Sterk of University of Waterloo's Applied Mathematics department. The paper was published in the April 7 issue of Science Express, the online edition of Science Magazine"

Comments

This article contains material on evolution.

[Anonymous Coward]

Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered

Re:This article contains material on evolution.

[Anonymous Coward]

I know you are trying to be funny... However, `evolution`, or what ever you want to call it is a theorem, not a theory. You can prove it happens based on some simple axioms. The only thing you can argue about is timescales. (Which is what modern biologists are doing: "Is evolution proceding uniformly, or does it happen in bursts?", for example.)

In case anyone is interested, the axioms are:

1) Parents have children.
2) Children tend to look like their parents.
3) Mutations happen. i.e. children do not always inherit all their traits from their parents.
4) Organisms are different
5) Such differences yield to different probabilities for a given organism to survive and reproduce.
6) More children are born than survive to adulthood.

The proof goes as follows: Given a distribution of 'fitness' for a population, given by axioms 4 and 5 we can calculate which 'parents' will survive to have 'children' (that some do is axiom 1). From axiom 6, many children will be born, and from axiom 2 those children will be like their parents. From this you can calculate the new distribution of 'fitness'. Noting that it will be different due to axioms 6 and 5 (ignoring singular cases where everyone has the same fitness), gives the initial stages of evolution. Now, for evolution to continue, you need new variation (infinite inbreeding is bad, the population tends to a set of clones, and the singular case above is the result), so axiom 3 is needed to fix that.

Now, it is even possible to prove that the axioms happen.

For each axiom:
1) Obvious, really.
2) If you don't believe this, then you are an idiot. :-) i.e. People `tend` to give birth to people, not other animals and plants.
3) You need a little science for this one, but it is possible to sequence DNA, and show mistakes happen.
4) Obvious, really.
5) This one can be measured as well. For example albino tigers have trouble surviving in the wild since they have trouble hiding.
6) I know one class mate who died before adulthood, and that one example is enough to prove this one.

Done! Well... if you want more, you can start doing mathematical models of the various axioms. You can try different mathematical functions for axioms 4 and 5 and see how the different results affect the timescales involved.

In the post...

[Anonymous Coward]

In the post 9/11 world, the atmosphere is used by terroists!

Who says religion polarizes people?

[sqrt(2)]

I love articles like this, they help me build up my friend/foe database :D

CHURCH SAYS EVOLUTION IS A FACT.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Catholic church says evolution is a fact. Your "disclaimer" post is blasphemy!

Read, you blasphemous heretic.