Could Life Originate between the Sheets of Mica?
Mica has many strengths as a place where life might emerge from non-living matter.
Where was the Potassium at the origins of life?
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NEW! Could life originate between the sheets of Biotite = Black Mica (high in Fe and Mg)?  Maybe life started between the sheets of mica. The spaces between mica sheets are filled with potassium ions, like the insides of all living cells. The spaces between mica sheets provide many advantages for the origins of life, including: an environment in which polymer entropy is low; cyclic wetting and drying can occur; molecules can evolve in isolated spaces and also migrate and ligate to form larger molecules. Maybe mechanical energy (work) from moving mica sheets was a major energy source at the origins of life, which could have been used on many length scales: to form covalent bonds, to alter polymer conformations, and to bleb daughter cells off protocells. The mica hypothesis is consistent with many other origins hypotheses, including the RNA, lipid, hot, icy, and metabolic "worlds". |
H G Hansma, Possible Origin of Life between Mica Sheets, Journal of Theoretical Biology (2010) 266, pp 175-188
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Granny says life evolved between the mica sheets