In the vast universe, exploring the origin of life has always been the tireless pursuit of scientists. An intriguing hypothesis, the "germ theory", suggests that life on Earth may have originated from simple organic molecules brought by comets. This bold idea, while it sounds like a science fiction story, has been supported by a growing body of evidence in recent years.
The European comet Rosetta probe has made a breakthrough discovery in this area. It successfully detected the comet "Churyumov-Gerasimenko", and the results showed the presence of amino acids and other basic materials for life on the comet. Even more amazingly, in the new issue of the American journal Science Advances, researchers reported that not only glycine, a key amino acid, but also phosphorus, were detected in the thin gas around the comet. Glycine is essential for life, while phosphorus is an integral part of key structures for life, such as DNA and cell membranes.
Not only that, but in 10/0, scientists made a new discovery on Comet Lovejoy. They detected two complex organic molecules needed to make up life, alcoholic ethanol and simple sugar ethanolaldehyde. This discovery undoubtedly adds new clues to the mystery of the origin of life on Earth. Li Jing, a former researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories of China, vividly described the comet as a "big refrigerator" flying alone in space, perfectly preserving the most primitive living materials and "piggybacking" these precious substances when they hit the earth.
然而，科學界對於生命起源的看法並非一邊倒。儘管彗星傳遞生命“基石”的證據越來越多，但仍有許多科學家認為生命是在地球上自行形成的。他們提出了“原始湯”理論，認為在約40億年前，地球的海洋中存在著由閃電等強大能源與原始大氣中的物質反應形成的有機分子。為了驗證這一理論，科學家進行了實驗，讓電火花穿過類似原始大氣的混合氣體，結果成功形成了水溶性有機小分子，如氨基酸、氰化氫和甲醛等。
In addition to the "primordial soup" theory, the idea of submarine hydrothermal vents as the cradle of life has also attracted much attention in recent years. Scientists believe that when the oceans were first formed, seafloor hydrothermal activity was frequent and intense, providing unique conditions for the birth of life. Yuan Xunlai of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out that the submarine hydrothermal vent has a stable liquid water environment and a unique chemical gradient, which is a "paradise" for the chemical reaction of synthetic organic macromolecules. Metallic minerals in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents act as high-quality catalysts that further facilitate the occurrence of these chemical reactions. Scientists have also found that the vast majority of microorganisms that represent the "common ancestor" of all living things are hyperthermophilic archaea isolated from seafloor hydrothermal environments, providing key evidence that life originated in seafloor hydrothermal vents.
The mystery of the origin of life is still mysterious. Comets may have provided important raw materials for the origin of life, and it is entirely possible that Earth's own unique environmental conditions gave birth to the first life. Scientists will continue to explore and study in depth in the hope of unraveling this mystery that has plagued humanity for a long time in the future.