Smoggy skies "created life on Earth"

Smoggy skies 'created life on Earth'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 1:33pm GMT 10/11/2006

Hazy, smoggy skies on baby Earth could have provided the chemical building blocks of the very first life on our planet, according to a study of one of Saturn's moons.

Primordial Earth likely had a layer of atmospheric haze, similar to the one currently on the moon Titan, that may have served as the principal reservoir of life’s building blocks, according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

One of Titan’s most striking features is its thick hazy layer of organic aerosols, which arises from chemical reactions between the methane and nitrogen molecules high in the atmosphere, driven by ultraviolet light.

Prof Margaret Tolbert at the University of Colorado and colleagues mimicked Titan’s chemistry by using UV lamps in various simulated atmospheres.

The researchers found that a methane-nitrogen mix would produce multiple types of long-chain hydrocarbons, including some aromatic compounds such as benzene.

The predicted products match well with some of the known components observed by the Huygens probe to Saturn. The researchers then added carbon dioxide gas to the mix to see if conditions that were probably present on early Earth would produce a similar haze.

"It turns out that organic haze can form over a wide range of methane and carbon dioxide concentrations," said Prof Tolbert. "This means that hazy conditions could have been present for many millions or even a billion years on Earth while life was evolving."

The researcher calculate that Earth could have produced more than100 million tons of aerosols each year, and thus these organic chemicals in the haze could have served as the primary ingredients for primitive life.

According to co-author Melissa Trainer "As these particles settled out of the skies, they would have provided a global source of food for living organisms. We found that you can make a lot of organic material virtually out of thin air."

In addition to serving as a source of organic material, a haze layer over Earth could have shielded living organisms from harmful UV rays and helped to regulate Earth’s early climate, according to the study.

The haze may have contributed to the geological record on Earth by depositing organic carbon into some of the planet’s most ancient rocks, said Alexander Pavlov, a co-author of the report at the University of Arizona.

"Our paper is the first but necessary step which suggests that the total mass of organics derived photochemically could have been comparable to the total mass of organics in ancient sediments," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O for pete's sake, this is supposed to be science??? Ok, I know that it's not possible to know EXACTLY what went on at any time when history did not accurately record what took place, and if you eroneously believe that the bible doesn't accurately record the creation of the earth, then science is what you are left with. HOWEVER, science is a process, which brings up my problem once more with evolution. Did you notice all the -could have's, probably's, may have's, might have's, likely's, would have's- present in this article??? Please keep in mind that this terminology leaves one at the HYPOTHESIS stage! Folks out of the five steps in the scientific method, this is only STEP 2! Step one is to make observations. The so-called researchers are hypothesizing that these things could have been what started life. But is it recorded as hypothesis? No, absolutely not.

After seeing that life exists, instead of forming and testing a hypothesis, these researchers instead formed a conclusion (that life on earth evolved) and then began running tests to try and create a protein or some form of organic life period. When even partially successful, they then state their hypotheses as CONCLUSIONS.

This is what creates havoc for all the evolution scientists out there. They have no hard evidence for evolution. They have only speculation. But you see, the idea has already been formed.... that there simply cannot be a God who created life as the bible says He did. Deists and ignorant or mislead Christians buy into the same ideas in an attempt to make the bible fit what the "scientists" have concluded so that they don't have to have an argument based on God. Unfortunately, the 'conclusions' are simply hypotheses that are misstated. Their willingness to stand in an educational forum and stand on God and say that science will prove God's account true, is nonexistant. Their humanity keeps them from looking foolish in man's eyes, but instead causes them to appear foolish in God's eyes.

Anyway, re-read this 'scientific' account, notice the terminology which is supposed to indicate a conclusion but only says "we don't know but we refuse to say it wasn't evolution because then there's a God and we don't like that". Then look at other 'scientific' accounts and notice the same terminology. It's a misuse of the scientific method...a gross misuse.

Next, if you want to see the scientific method truly worked out by some of the most degreed and pedigreed minds in any scientific field of study, and see why they didn't come up with evolution, and why they became Christians at the same time, check out this website: www.answersingenesis.org Not only are these guys(hundreds of them) brilliant, but they prove (not guess) that science doesn't refute the bible, it supports it.