Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ferus M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4311869 | biostudies-other | 2015 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20141208 3
The coincidence of the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) period and the emergence of terrestrial life about 4 billion years ago suggest that extraterrestrial impacts could contribute to the synthesis of the building blocks of the first life-giving molecules. We simulated the high-energy synthesis of nucleobases from formamide during the impact of an extraterrestrial body. A high-power laser has been used to induce the dielectric breakdown of the plasma produced by the impact. The results demonstrate ...[more]