It has been a long time since my last biochemistry class, I don't
understand the following: two places the article imply this was all done
with only inorganic materials:
"But it produces weird growths that, although made purely
from inorganic materials..."
and
"Graham Cairns-Smith, a chemist at the University of Glasgow
in Scotland, has speculated for many years that life on our
planet may not have started with organic (carbon-based)
molecules. He suggests life may have begun with inorganic
ingredients..."
But, in the sidebar's popup window (click on "How to make a mineral
fungus"), the article instructs "To make the cells appear, place a
compressed pellet of 0.2 g powdered calcium chloride into about 250 mL
of a 1.5 M sodium carbonate solution."
I would have sworn that sodium carbonate is an organic compound, since
it contains carbon...
// Gary
Stephen Guerin wrote:
>
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040426/040426-5.html
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