A groundbreaking study suggests that microscopic lightning bolts within water droplets may have played a crucial role in forging the first amino acids on Earth. The research, led by Dr. Richard Zare at Stanford University, revises and updates one of the most iconic experiments in science history.
In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey recreated early Earth’s atmosphere using ammonia, methane, hydrogen, and water vapor inside a sealed glass chamber. They then jolted it with electricity, resulting in the spontaneous formation of amino acids, the fundamental components of proteins. The new study takes a microscopic detour by exploring electrical interactions between charged water droplets as small as 1 micron in diameter.
The researchers sprayed a fine mist of the gas mixture into the chamber and captured faint flashes – tiny sparks zipping between the droplets using high-speed cameras. These sparks, or microlightning discharges, triggered chemical reactions that generated amino acids like glycine and uracil, a nucleotide found in RNA.
This study is significant because it shows that micro-discharges between charged water micro-droplets can create all types of organic molecules observed in previous experiments. The researchers propose that this is a new mechanism for the pre-biotic synthesis of molecules that constitute the building blocks of life.
Experts weigh in, emphasizing the importance of energetic catalysts like microlightning. Dr. Amy J. Williams, an astrobiologist and geobiologist at the University of Florida, notes that lightning has the energy to break molecular bonds and facilitate the generation of new molecules critical to the origin of life on Earth. The team’s approach shows that microlightning has the necessary energy to initiate these bonds in a plausible setting.
Source: https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/03/lightning-flash-might-be-why-you-exist