Page 2 - Benjamin Hess News Today

Researchers believe lightning could have literally sparked life on Earth Shane McGlaun - Mar 17, 2021, 8:08am CDT A new study conducted by researchers at Yale and the University of Leeds suggests that lightning could have unlocked the phosphorus necessary for creating biomolecules that eventually led to life on Earth. The lead author of the paper, Benjamin Hess, says that the team’s work helps understand how life could’ve formed on Earth and how it might form on other pla...

Phosphorus minerals arising from lightning strikes eventually exceeded the amount from meteorites by about 3.5 billion years ago, roughly the age of the earliest-known fossils widely accepted to be those of microbes, they found. “Lightning strikes, therefore, may have been a significant part of the emergence of life on Earth,” said Benjamin Hess, a Yale University graduate student in earth and planetary sciences and lead author of the study. “Unlike meteorite impacts which decrease expone...

(Photo : sethink on Pixabay) However, University of Leeds researchers have discovered that lightning strikes were almost as important as meteorites in fulfilling this crucial role and causing life to emerge. They claim that if the atmospheric conditions are correct, life might evolve on Earth-like planets by the same process at any time. Benjamin Hess led the study during his undergraduate studies in the School of Earth and Atmosphere at the University of Leeds. Mr. Hess and his teachers were g...

Study finds that lightning strikes played key role in life’s origins Updated Mar 17, 2021; Posted Mar 17, 2021 A new study found that lightning strikes may have played a key role in forming life on Earth. (photo by Felix Mittermeier via Unsplash) Facebook Share did potentially help life form on Earth. A new study has found that lightning strikes played a key role in life’s origins on the planet humans call home. Published on Science Daily, the study was conducted by researchers at the Uni...

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Benjamin Hess, PhD Candidate, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Yale University The origin of life on Earth is one of the most complex puzzles facing scientists. It involves not only identifying the numerous chemical reactions that must take place to create a replicating organism, but also finding realistic sources for the ingredients needed for each of the reactions. One particular problem that has long faced scientists who study the origin of life is the...

Millions of lightning strikes may have been just what life needed to begin on early Earth, according to a new study.

 E-Mail Lightning strikes -- perhaps a quintillion of them, occurring over a billion years -- may have provided sparks of life for the early Earth. A new study by researchers at Yale and the University of Leeds contends that over time, these bolts from the blue unlocked the phosphorus necessary for the creation of biomolecules that would be the basis of life on the planet. "This work helps us understand how life may have formed on Earth and how it could still be forming on other, Earth-like pl...

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Lightning -- and not meteorites -- may have seeded life on Earth.

Lightning strikes may have supplied primordial Earth with enough phosphorus to support the emergence of life, according to new research.