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Evidences by John Lankford
The common picture given in school biology classes for the origin of life on earth is that a chemical "soup" developed in the ocean. From that mixture, the complex chemicals of the first cell emerged ... then the cell ... then cellular reproduction.
The issue of origin of life in the ocean is a chemistry problem. Chemistry is the study of how tiny bits of stuff come about and react with each other. One of the primary complex chemicals of any cell is a protein. It is made of tiny units of amino acids strung together like beads. It may take as many as 250 of these amino acids to be useful for a living thing to use in its life. So, how protein comes about and reacts is a number one concern in testing the "soup-to-life" idea.
Fact #1 -- Much research has been done in attempting to join amino acids in water to make the very beginning of a protein. Such efforts have taken place over a span of more than 30 years and have failed. This information is easily documented in the chemical literature but is not included in high school textbooks.
Fact #2 -- Every amino acid has two versions. There is a "right-handed" and "left-handed" version of the same amino acid. The significance of this is shown below.
Research has shown that atmospheric gases containing ammonia, water vapor and natural gas can form a few amino acids when an electric discharge (like lightning) is passed through a mixture of the gases.
A Nobel Prize was awarded for this work. This is how it is explained that the ocean was an amino-acid soup.
All experiments in producing the acids from gases have produced a 50-50 mixture of the right and left versions of each amino-acid.
Researchers believe that the ocean, therefore, contained a soup of both kinds of amino acids. All the proteins studied in living systems show that living things use just the "left" kind of amino acid in their protein.
As yet, no one has come up with any non-problematic mechanism for linking-up 250 (or even three) amino acids of just one type from a 50-50 mix of both types.
Fact #3 -- Amino acids can easily decompose in water and can react with minerals in the ocean water. This could diminish the availability of any particular amino acid for a given "position" on the protein. The position of the amino acid is critical for a protein to function. For example, sickle-cell anemia is caused by the misplacement of just one amino acid on a protein chain.
CONCLUSIONS FROM THE FACTS
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Evidences by John Lankford
