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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 planets similar to Earth. Hess’ team believes that the whole process starts with phosphorus. Research...

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 exponentially through time, lightning strikes can occur at a sustained rate over a planet’s history. Thi...

(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 gazing at a huge and pure sample of fulgurite, a rock produced as lightning hits the earth. The sampl...

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 University of Leeds as they were studying fulgurite samples, a type of rock that’s created when light...

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 source of the elusive element, phosphorus. Phosphorus is an important element for basic cell struct...