DNA Building Blocks Can Be Made in Space

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NASA funded researchers say they have evidence that some building blocks of DNA found in meteorites were likely created in space, sort of a "kit" of ready-made parts that assisted the origin of life. Watch the video here.
 
So we came from rocks... seems logical enough :)

I found his explanation pretty straight forward, but prepare to hear folks say "it's too complicated, we must've come from god"

hopefully this information helps our society learn and grow
 
I never really understood the fascination with the origin of life.

We are alive, so clearly it happened.

I almost wonder if science and religion aren't in a pissing contest.
 
Or these organics stemmed from a previous place of origin that contained life and this is a serendipitous way of transportation.
 
Well the 'Im alive so it clearly happened' is a good starting point. If more people would understand that religion is a social system used to control people and move past it they would see that the universe opens up. The interesting part now becomes how did everything get to where it is now.

I will say I am not very suprised by this article, we see huge clouds of organic molecules in nebulas and so it was always a good possibility.
 
Origin of life has never been the issue for anyone serious about it. It is about the origin of information.

Unless you believe that information is self-organizing, then I knowp/b] that you are not trying to be serious.
 
Dirk13 said:
Well the 'Im alive so it clearly happened' is a good starting point. If more people would understand that religion is a social system used to control people and move past it they would see that the universe opens up. The interesting part now becomes how did everything get to where it is now.

I will say I am not very suprised by this article, we see huge clouds of organic molecules in nebulas and so it was always a good possibility.
Click to expand...

Religion isn't about controlling people considering they have a choice to believe or a choice to stop believing. Conversely, I'd say government is the over-arching institution seeking to control, given that we are government by laws that we as a society choose to adhere to and if choose to break that pact we are then punished or made to comply by force. Religion has none of these issues.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I have to say, the total lack of intellectual curiosity here saddens me.
Click to expand...

curiosity killed the cat.

spending a couple hundred years to conclusively say, "yup, we came from space" is pointless. Million other more important things worth figuring out first.
 
Methadras said:
Religion isn't about controlling people considering they have a choice to believe or a choice to stop believing.
Click to expand...

I gotta stop you there a wave the BS flag. Most, Most religion is about controlling people, Islam, Catholicism, Mormons, etc... Any religion where you have to work for heaven and earn afterlife points is about controlling people. Take it a step farther and several of them keep you in line with threats. In many places in the world your life is forfeit if you try to walk away from Islam, If you leave Mormonism they cut you off from your family and friends.

Religions can't coexist, at most only one can be true.
 
Oh look, chemistry works... This a surprise?

Eisenblut said:
Origin of life has never been the issue for anyone serious about it. It is about the origin of information.

Unless you believe that information is self-organizing, then I knowp that you are not trying to be serious.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what you are saying. Seriously, is this one of those supposedly deep thoughts that is so meta it is inscrutable?

Methadras said:
Religion isn't about controlling people considering they have a choice to believe or a choice to stop believing. Conversely, I'd say government is the over-arching institution seeking to control, given that we are government by laws that we as a society choose to adhere to and if choose to break that pact we are then punished or made to comply by force. Religion has none of these issues.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, in the west, at this point in history, yes sorta, but not completely.

We are fortunate.

Try coming out as a Wiccan or an Atheist or a Jew in Spain during the Inquisition. Hell try the same thing today in one of the areas ruled by Sharia law.

Or the Bible Belt...
 
Soggy said:
I gotta stop you there a wave the BS flag. Most, Most religion is about controlling people, Islam, Catholicism, Mormons, etc... Any religion where you have to work for heaven and earn afterlife points is about controlling people. Take it a step farther and several of them keep you in line with threats. In many places in the world your life is forfeit if you try to walk away from Islam, If you leave Mormonism they cut you off from your family and friends.

Religions can't coexist, at most only one can be true.
Click to expand...

How true.

Also, true religion AND science go hand in hand.

Also the post about where the information came from.. yep.. that is the "big question" for most people.

Where the matter came from is of little consequence since matter can't "magically" arrange itself to form anything usefull without outside intervention.

Try scambling up the words from one page of a book and dropping them continuiously until they form the word son the page exactly how they are supposed to be. It is never going to happen, much less all the information in DNA assembling itself to even form a single cell organism.
 
Decibel said:
I have no idea what you are saying. Seriously, is this one of those supposedly deep thoughts that is so meta it is inscrutable?
Click to expand...
The origin of the information contained within the DNA (or any other transporter) is far more important and comes before even discussing the origin of life since life cannot exist without the information contained within it.

Decibel said:
Try coming out as a Wiccan or an Atheist or a Jew in Spain during the Inquisition. Hell try the same thing today in one of the areas ruled by Sharia law.

Or the Bible Belt...
Click to expand...
Your knowledge of the inqusitions is quite suspect or deliberately devoid of the rest of the picture. The Roman Catholic Church killed Christians as well, by the hundreds of thousands. Basically, they killed anyone who did not submit to the Pope, their "own" included.
 
stealthy123 said:
curiosity killed the cat.

spending a couple hundred years to conclusively say, "yup, we came from space" is pointless. Million other more important things worth figuring out first.
Click to expand...

You better get on those more important things, rather than posting inane comments on the interwebs.
 
Methadras said:
Religion isn't about controlling people considering they have a choice to believe or a choice to stop believing. Conversely, I'd say government is the over-arching institution seeking to control, given that we are government by laws that we as a society choose to adhere to and if choose to break that pact we are then punished or made to comply by force. Religion has none of these issues.
Click to expand...

So, what flavor is the Kool-aid?

I could go into a far reaching argument as to how wrong you are, but I seriously doubt your mind is that open given that post. The simple fact that you confuse spiritual belief with religion basically guarantees that you haven't hit that level of understanding yet.

For the record, I am not athiest and am not slamming your belief. I am pointing out that the statement that religion has none of the issues you mentioned is absurd at best and an outright fabrication designed to keep people drinking the kool-aid at worst.

The simplified version is Religion is a system of rules and rituals designed by man to control how man interacts with god. Spiritual belief is the belief in a spiritual diety and requires no such rules. Spiritual belief has never harmed anyone, religion on the other hand....

Anyhow, enough thread derail. Didn't take long as I figured.

Exciting stuff to see them starting to discover more about the building blocks of life and where they came from.
 
Random happenstance of space rocks vs. Mythical being who created all of eternity felt the need to create us (and only us) on one planet in the entire universe...

yeah no wonder I didn't dig Sunday school
 
Methadras said:
Or these organics stemmed from a previous place of origin that contained life and this is a serendipitous way of transportation.
Click to expand...
That's a pretty neat way of looking at it. If it's coincidence that that particular asteroid hit us, could that perhaps suggest other asteroids out there contain even more significant evidence? Is it possible the asteroid developed these organics through radiation as it passes through space? If it's sent here on purpose... well... lol :D

Obviously I know very little of this stuff, but it's fun to think about and wonder. Any opinions on what this could mean, or is it not really a big breakthrough or worth the time
 
Youn said:
That's a pretty neat way of looking at it. If it's coincidence that that particular asteroid hit us, could that perhaps suggest other asteroids out there contain even more significant evidence? Is it possible the asteroid developed these organics through radiation as it passes through space? If it's sent here on purpose... well... lol :D

Obviously I know very little of this stuff, but it's fun to think about and wonder. Any opinions on what this could mean, or is it not really a big breakthrough or worth the time
Click to expand...

Breakthrough it is but what from where life came from NOBODY knows.
 
Eisenblut said:
The origin of the information contained within the DNA (or any other transporter) is far more important and comes before even discussing the origin of life since life cannot exist without the information contained within it.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to say that the information existed before hand? I mean, I'm pretty comfortable with the idea of biopoesis and the eventual adaptation to and alteration of the environment eventually leading to multicellular life and eventually us. Like I said earlier, chemistry works.

The study of abiogenesis and the possibility of exogenesis still fracking blows my mind.

Your knowledge of the inqusitions is quite suspect or deliberately devoid of the rest of the picture. The Roman Catholic Church killed Christians as well, by the hundreds of thousands. Basically, they killed anyone who did not submit to the Pope, their "own" included.
Click to expand...

So uh, how is this a rebuttal to saying that religion is not about control? Which was the point. And yes, basically any of the "heretics" suffered at the hands of the Inquisitors.

Of course I still have the song from History of the World: Part I in my head. Damn you Mel Brooks, damn you. I can't believe my parents let me watch that as a kid. What the hell were they thinking?

The Inquisition (Let's begin)
The Inquisition (Look out sin)
Click to expand...
 
Methadras said:
Or these organics stemmed from a previous place of origin that contained life and this is a serendipitous way of transportation.
Click to expand...


Problem with that line of thinking is, organics =/= life. Its pretty damn near close to saying well if there's hydrogen then there's life, because life has many hydrogen atoms in it.
 
Youn said:
So we came from rocks... seems logical enough :)

I found his explanation pretty straight forward, but prepare to hear folks say "it's too complicated, we must've come from god"

hopefully this information helps our society learn and grow
Click to expand...

If we came from rocks isnt that from God anyways?

I see no conflict there.

I see people making it an issue because they dont
get the idea that He setup the rules of nature, and
there are no exceptions to it. We all came from something,
and that something came from nothing.

For you atheists, i already know your position,
no need to respond.
 
Methadras said:
Religion isn't about controlling people considering they have a choice to believe or a choice to stop believing. Conversely, I'd say government is the over-arching institution seeking to control, given that we are government by laws that we as a society choose to adhere to and if choose to break that pact we are then punished or made to comply by force. Religion has none of these issues.
Click to expand...

+ 1

Ya this.
 
msny said:
+ 1

Ya this.
Click to expand...

No not +1.

The idea that religion is not about control was quite handily obliterated by this post:

Eisenblut said:
...The Roman Catholic Church killed Christians as well, by the hundreds of thousands. Basically, they killed anyone who did not submit to the Pope, their "own" included.
Click to expand...


msny said:
If we came from rocks isnt that from God anyways?

I see no conflict there.

I see people making it an issue because they dont
get the idea that He setup the rules of nature, and
there are no exceptions to it. We all came from something,
and that something came from nothing.

For you atheists, i already know your position,
no need to respond.
Click to expand...

I like that, to paraphrase: "I am the only one with a valid opinion here. Shut up an' listen."

I see you falling into a major God of the Gaps fallacy. We're left with a Creator that was only active at the formation of the Universe and the current physical laws in our particular facet of the Multiverse. If is how you want to define God, cool.
 
Decibel said:
No not +1.

The idea that religion is not about control was quite handily obliterated by this post:






I like that, to paraphrase: "I am the only one with a valid opinion here. Shut up an' listen."

I see you falling into a major God of the Gaps fallacy. We're left with a Creator that was only active at the formation of the Universe and the current physical laws in our particular facet of the Multiverse. If is how you want to define God, cool.
Click to expand...

Not at all, not even close.

Fallacy #1.
First where did I ever mention religion? Thats your
problem not mine. Because one mentions God
or a Supreme Being does NOT always infer religious
belief. Your too quick on the draw. Let me think for
myself. You can think with the crowd, I dont care.

Fallacy #2
Why would God not want to work within His own rules
of nature? If He did set things in motion, what evidence
is there that He is not part of things now?

For some science is there religion, whatever trips your
trigger..
 
What if there is only mankind, and if there is life out there and it's us, I'd be scared.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
I read the OP in Morgan Freeman's voice.
Click to expand...

I read it in Samuel L Jacksons. "We've got some MUTHA F****N DNA on this MUTHA F****N ROCK!"

Anyway, I'm not a believer but I don't see anything innately illogical (well, outside of the core belief) that God created everything and all the laws of physics, science, etc were set down in the creation. You've got to take the Bible more as metaphor.

Now on the other hand you have fruit loops that come on here talking about the 6,000 year old earth, which was surrounded by some magic ice crystal made from god juice or something...
 
TwistedAegis said:
You've got to take the Bible more as metaphor
Click to expand...
Yeah I agree it's too easy to take it literally, especially for those trying to make logical sense of something. There is probably a never ending amount of things we've yet to understand. I just hope people are motivated enough to care and try, because we could do some great positive things in our world if we shared a positive attitude about these things. Like, oh I dunno, end world hunger, cure nasty diseases, have more fun, be happier more peaceful, etc...

I guess I'm an optimist... at least it seems so today :D
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I don't see why this thread needs to be about religion.
Click to expand...

Me neither... It sure would be nice to have a thread about science stay on topic. I would be fucking ecstatic if we had a thread on science stay on topic.

But since we're already derailed... it's not like I'm going to actually work while I'm at work. As long as I'm typing I look busy. :D

msny said:
Not at all, not even close.

Fallacy #1.
First where did I ever mention religion? Thats your
problem not mine. Because one mentions God
or a Supreme Being does NOT always infer religious
belief. Your too quick on the draw. Let me think for
myself. You can think with the crowd, I dont care.

Fallacy #2
Why would God not want to work within His own rules
of nature? If He did set things in motion, what evidence
is there that He is not part of things now?

For some science is there religion, whatever trips your
trigger..
Click to expand...

Odd, the only place I talked about religion is where you gave a +1 to someone failing to say that religion isn't about control. It quite clearly is.

Second, I quite clearly said that if you want to define god as the creative force that setup the natural laws of the universe runs in, cool.

Work on the reading comprehension there buddy.

I'm fine with whatever spiritualism you want to have. Just steer clear of the argument I've heard too many times, "We don't know what happened before the Big Bang, therefore: Jesus..." and we're still cool.

I'm not quite sure that you know what science is. It's only a method of gathering empirical data and making observations. That's it. Sure from that data we can create models that explain what we see, but it's far from a religion. And hell, if we find a new model that better explains the data, we throw the old model out and keep the new one... Until we get a newer, better model. (Wash, rinse, repeat...)
 
Decibel said:
Second, I quite clearly said that if you want to define god as the creative force that setup the natural laws of the universe runs in, cool.
Click to expand...

And that's what I get for posting while "working."

What I meant was:

Second, I quite clearly said that if you want to define god as the creative force that setup the natural laws of the universe, cool.

But was obviously thinking something else. Oops.

(Hey guys, how about an edit button for people that have been here for more than ten years. Haven't we proven that we can keep our douche-baggery to a lowish level?)
 
Did god create man or did man create god? Now that's something to ponder about.
 
Methadras said:
Religion isn't about controlling people considering they have a choice to believe or a choice to stop believing. Conversely, I'd say government is the over-arching institution seeking to control, given that we are government by laws that we as a society choose to adhere to and if choose to break that pact we are then punished or made to comply by force. Religion has none of these issues.
Click to expand...

...huh?
 
msny said:
I see people making it an issue because they dont
get the idea that He setup the rules of nature, and
there are no exceptions to it. We all came from something,
and that something came from nothing.
Click to expand...

It is your Belief that He (God) setup the rule of nature
It is your Belief that God asserted there were no exceptions

God exists is not a Fact, it is a Belief

Belief != Fact

You cannot prove God exists. No one can - and the fact that there is a book (the Bible) does not prove God's existence either, look at the Cult of Scientology.

A Belief is something which you think is true but cannot be proven
Example - You are taller than I am
I tell you, "I'm taller than I you."
That is my belief. The fact is you are taller than I am. We can prove it through experiment.


Your last statement is a belief again, though it could be fact. We know we - humans - didn't just appear one day. Did everything come from nothing? That's still being debated - goes into quantum and particle physics which I am no knowledgeable enough with to make an argument. So anyone that speaks with certainty that the universe was created in some way is giving their belief.


This new information is exciting. It's another piece of data that we can build off of as we continue to explore the universe in which we find ourselves in.
 
CMD said:
What if there is only mankind, and if there is life out there and it's us, I'd be scared.
Click to expand...

If there were other humans out there somewhere in space, that'd be pretty badass in my opinion. Perhaps they would have knowledge that exceeds ours, who knows?
 
LeninGHOLA said:
I don't see why this thread needs to be about religion.
Click to expand...

Because there are people who want to crush the idea of religion and then there are religious fanatics who see this and flip to defend there beliefs regardless of the tone.
 
Eisenblut said:
The origin of the information contained within the DNA (or any other transporter) is far more important and comes before even discussing the origin of life since life cannot exist without the information contained within it.
Click to expand...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you know very little about biology. The information within life evolved along with life.
 
I just watched this IMAX Space Station Blu-Ray 3D today with my Nvidia 3D Vision Kit. Some good footage of the ISS, and some of the testing they do in Space and how they try out different ideas/equipment and see how they function in space. They see how things operate in zero gravity and how they might work on Mars etc. Hopefully NASA keeps searching, I enjoy their findings. :)
 
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