ORGANIC membranes could be forming in space, deep inside dense interstellar clouds, where even light cannot penetrate. Such space membranes may have played a role in the emergence of life on Earth.
Jason Dworkin from NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, simulated space dust by mixing together water, methanol, ammonia and carbon monoxide, which he chilled to 15 degrees above absolute zero. He had already discovered that blasting the dust with ultraviolet radiation would create organic membranes that self-assemble into hollow, spherical structures.
Next week, he will tell the meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia that the same structures appear when you fire protons at the dust. This is crucial, because there are many more protons zipping around in space than there are photons of UV radiation, and protons can penetrate deeper into the clouds.
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Some biologists believe that such space membranes, perhaps piggy-backing on comets, provided containers that nurtured the molecules of life on Earth. 鈥淟ike prefab houses dropping from space,鈥� says Dworkin. Although the new results tell us nothing about the life that may have taken up residence, they confirm, at least, that housing was in plentiful supply.