Lightning Might Have Sparked Early Life on Earth

Electrical storms, rather than meteorites as scientists had previously thought, could have unlocked phosphorus necessary for the development of ancient life, according to a new study.

asher jones
| 2 min read
lightning, life, Earth, meteorite, phosphorous, fulgurite, schreibersite, DNA, RNA, microbes, evolution

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Primordial electrical storms might have helped provide a key building block to initiate life on Earth, according to a study published March 16 in Nature Communications.

Phosphorus is an essential element for all known life, forming the backbone of DNA and RNA molecules. Although the element was abundant on ancient Earth, most of it was locked inside nonreactive minerals. This had led researchers to hypothesize, in a 2005 study, that meteorites were responsible for the delivery of reactive phosphorus in the form of the mineral schreibersite, according to NPR.

But the origins of life on Earth might have been home grown. A team of geologists discovered that lightning strikes here on our planet can form schreibersite.

That means the “emergence of life is not necessarily connected to meteorite impacts,” Sandra Piazolo, a geologist at the University of Leeds in England and a coauthor of the study, ...

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Meet the Author

  • asher jones

    Asher Jones

    Asher is a former editorial intern at The Scientist. She completed a PhD in entomology from Penn State University, and she was a 2020 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at Voice of America. You can find more of her work here.

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