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For the First Time, Living Cells Have Formed Carbon-Silicon Bonds (sciencealert.com)

Posted by msmash on from the science-learnings dept.

From a ScienceDaily alert: Scientists have managed to coax living cells into making carbon-silicon bonds, demonstrating for the first time that nature can incorporate silicon -- one of the most abundant elements on Earth -- into the building blocks of life. While chemists have achieved carbon-silicon bonds before -- they're found in everything from paints and semiconductors to computer and TV screens -- they've so far never been found in nature, and these new cells could help us understand more about the possibility of silicon-based life elsewhere in the Universe. After oxygen, silicon is the second most abundant element in Earth's crust, and yet it has nothing to do with biological life. Why silicon has never be incorporated into any kind of biochemistry on Earth has been a long-standing puzzle for scientists, because, in theory, it would have been just as easy for silicon-based lifeforms to have evolved on our planet as the carbon-based ones we know and love. Not only are carbon and silicon both extremely abundant in Earth's crust - they're also very similar in their chemical make-up.

2 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Just think... by sacrilicious · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not only are carbon and silicon both extremely abundant in Earth's crust - they're also very similar in their chemical make-up.

    But for a cosmic flip of the coin, we could all be silicon-based beings, and our women could have carbon implants.

    --
    - First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
  2. Except Silicon Chemistry isn't like carbon by FeelGood314 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Si02 isn't soluble in water.
    Silicon doesn't easily form chains. When we do coax it to form long chains it isn't stable.
    If we look into space we actually find clouds of alcohol a very water soluble carbon based molecule. We generally don't see many Silicon base water soluble molecules occurring naturally.
    The polarity of the bond in SiH4 is the opposite of CH4. The bond is also much weaker, weaker than even H-H bond thus very primitive organic processes would have a more difficult time building more complicated structures with Silicon.