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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
 Posted - 10/27/2003 : 22:06:04
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While innocently doing some research for a report I have to do in my ceramics class I came across this article by typing the word clay in the Internet.
This story was on a web site that said something about CNN. (I'll look up the address if you want it). I did open some folders on SFN to see if anyone posted this, didn't find any. But forgive me if someone already did.
I thought this might be of interest.
Study suggests life sprang from clay
Saturday, October 25, 2003 Posted: 10:11 AM EDT (1411 GMT)
Florescent micrograph reveals RNA, red, absorbed to mineral clay surface and encapsulated within a cell-related structure known as a vesicle.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Science backed up religion this week in a study that suggests life may have indeed sprung from clay -- just as many faiths teach.
A team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston said they had shown materials in clay were key to some of the initial processes in forming life.
Specifically, a clay mixture called montmorillonite not only helps form little bags of fat and liquid but helps cells use genetic material called RNA. That, in turn, is one of the key processes of life.
Jack Szostak, Martin Hanczyc and Shelly Fujikawa were building on earlier work that found clays could catalyze the chemical reactions needed to make RNA from building blocks called nucleotides.
They found the clay sped along the process by which fatty acids formed little bag-like structures called vesicles. The clay also carried RNA into those vesicles. A cell is, in essence, a complex bag of liquidy compounds.
"Thus, we have demonstrated that not only can clay and other mineral surfaces accelerate vesicle assembly, but assuming that the clay ends up inside at least some of the time, this provides a pathway by which RNA could get into vesicles," Szostak said in a statement Thursday.
"The formation, growth and division of the earliest cells may have occurred in response to similar interactions with mineral particles and inputs of material and energy," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.
"We are not claiming that this is how life started," Szostak stressed.
"We are saying that we have demonstrated growth and division without any biochemical machinery. Ultimately, if we can demonstrate more natural ways this might have happened, it may begin to give us clues about how life could have actually gotten started on the primitive Earth."
Among religious texts that refer to life being formed from the soil is the Bible's Book of Genesis where God tells Adam, (King James translation), "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
 Posted - 10/28/2003 : 21:39:19 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Snake
"We are saying that we have demonstrated growth and division without any biochemical machinery. Ultimately, if we can demonstrate more natural ways this might have happened, it may begin to give us clues about how life could have actually gotten started on the primitive Earth."
Among religious texts that refer to life being formed from the soil is the Bible's Book of Genesis where God tells Adam, (King James translation), "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
After rereading that, I have a question:
Of course I'm not as learned as those 'scientists' and there are various kinds of clay BUT from what I've learned, clay comes from solid rock. Either we are not being told the entire conection from clay to life or the clay, from what I see, picked up the life forms while it was being transformed into clay or the rock had the life in it before it became clay. Therefore, life does not really come from clay. And solid rock is not dust!
Can someone explain this? |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 06:36:32 [Permalink]
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| I recall ready some info on this and as I understand it, in the hypothesised model the clay is simply a 'nice medium' for the possible formation of life. Look at the clay on the same level as a jar to contain the molecules that became life. |
If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 18:05:09 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by furshur
I recall ready some info on this and as I understand it, in the hypothesised model the clay is simply a 'nice medium' for the possible formation of life. Look at the clay on the same level as a jar to contain the molecules that became life.
So if I'm understanding you, the clay doesn't really make the life. Which is what I was trying to say.
They made it sound like the clay was creating the life out of itself but perhaps I misunderstood them.
BTW, I have a bunch of clay outside right now some of which is getting all moldy. I suppose one could say it's creating life as we speak. I don't know, but it might create some beautiful effects when it's fired. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 23:11:18 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Snake
So if I'm understanding you, the clay doesn't really make the life. Which is what I was trying to say.
They made it sound like the clay was creating the life out of itself but perhaps I misunderstood them.
Before the cell wall, there was nothing to contain the amino acids, proteins, and the RNA. The molecular structure of the clay provides a natural vessel in which the bio-chemical processes could start.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 19:59:20 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
The molecular structure of the clay provides a natural vessel in which the bio-chemical processes could start.
Short and to the point.
Thank you, that helps explain it better.
(thinking to myself) I wonder if there's some way to make a report out of that for my class.
Or just stick with one of my original ideas...how to photograph your work or why breathing in the chemicals is dangerous!
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Computer Org
Skeptic Friend
392 Posts |
Posted - 11/13/2003 : 08:54:24 [Permalink]
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Ahhh, yes. Sentient clay.
Actually I'm just kidding. I am willing to go far out on a limb, sticking my neck waaaaay out, and say the I unambiguously believe that there is no such thing as "sentient clay".  |
Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life. --Falstaff |
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