Waterless Life

Could life evolve on planets unlike the earth -- say on a completely waterless world? Experiments performed by Goesta Wollin and David B. Ericson of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory suggest that it could indeed, although without water any organisms would probably be totally unrecognizable.

Wollin and Ericson mixed the molecules of gases recently detected in the far reaches of space -- ammonia, methanol, formaldehyde and formic acid -- in various combinations. Then, keeping the gases completely free of water, the scientists exposed them to ultraviolet radiation and found that they combined to produce small quantities of some of the amino acids essential to life. Says Wollin: "Perhaps liquid ammonia, with its physical and chemical properties so similar to water, could serve as a solvent medium for waterless life."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.