Proteins’ ancestors
In 1957 Sidney Walter Fox, an American biochemist, invented an experiment that proved how proteins could be formed outside of living beings starting from amino acids.
Fox simply warmed an amino acid mix on a metal plaque. Right after it cooled off it was possible to notice some complex molecules, very similar to proteins, which he called proteinoids so as not to get them mixed up. At that point it was believed that these new molecules had formed from the union of amino acids freed of the water through its evaporation. The same reaction could have happened on the burning hot rocks of the Earth’s crust as it had just solidified. The tides might have brought the primordial soup enriched with organic substances on land where water would have evaporated allowing the amino acid molecules to bind together. These protein precursors would then be carried once again to the sea by the rains and the tidal ebb and flow.
Special reports
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2 July 2014
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10 March 2021
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8 March 2021
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
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27 February 2021
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2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
1 September 2019
What language does science speak?
Do you remember the game called “Chinese whispers”? All the participants had to stand in line and the game started…
-
31 October 2019
What language does science speak? 2nd part
There is an old proverb that says “the apple does not fall far from the tree ”. Apparently it seems…
3 November 2014
Conan the bacterium
Have you ever leafed through the pages of a book of Guinness World Records? You can find records of all…
-
2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
-
1 September 2019
What language does science speak?
Do you remember the game called “Chinese whispers”? All the participants had to stand in line and the game started…
-
31 October 2019
What language does science speak? 2nd part
There is an old proverb that says “the apple does not fall far from the tree ”. Apparently it seems…
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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Life from space
According to some scientists life has always existed in the Universe just like the Universe...
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Bio-luminescence
Many sea animals, including a lot of fish and molluscs that live in the dark in the ocean depths...
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Bacteria as Sherlock Holmes
A drop of blood, a fragment of skin or a hair found on the scene of a crime can supply…
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Life from space
According to some scientists life has always existed in the Universe just like the Universe...
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Bio-luminescence
Many sea animals, including a lot of fish and molluscs that live in the dark in the ocean depths...