Clues to first sparks of life unearthed in classic ’50s experiment

VOLCANOES and lightning may have worked together to produce the first sparks of life on Earth, according to new analysis of classic experiments from the 1950s.

Dr Stanley Miller performed the original “primordial soup” experiment in 1953 while still a doctoral student at the University of Chicago. The experiment is still widely used today in school chemistry labs.

Lightning-like sparks were fired inside a glass flask filled with a “soup” of methane, ammonia, water vapour and hydrogen to simulate conditions on early Earth.

Over a few of days, organic compounds formed in the mixture, showing how the Earth’s primitive atmosphere may have given rise to life.

Today, scientists no longer think the primordial atmosphere had the same make- up as Dr Miller’s cocktail.

But a new study shows that a forgotten “spark flask” experiment conducted by Dr Miller, the results of which were never published, created a much more realistic scenario for the birth of life. This experiment simulated the steamy outpourings of volcanic eruptions, which were very common on early Earth.

Analysis of chemical residues left over from the research revealed a wider variety of amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) than were produced in the “classic” experiment which made Dr Miller famous.

“The apparatus Stanley Miller paid the least attention to gave the most exciting results,” said doctoral student Adam Johnson, from the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana, who led the team revisiting the experiment.

“We suspect part of the reason for this was that he did not have the analytical tools we have today, so he would have missed a lot.”

In his May 15, 1953 article published in the journal Science, Dr Miller named just five amino acids.

The new analysis of Dr Miller’s vials uncovered 14 amino acids from the “primordial soup” experiment, but 22 from the unpublished “volcano” experiment.

The new study, also published in Science, suggests that lightning and the release of gases from volcanic eruptions may have produced the necessary chemical components needed to kick-start life.