Evidence emerges from the deep of Earth's first amino acids
Geochemical processes shows how buildings blocks for life on Earth may have been synthesised
The amino acid tryptophan has been detected deep beneath the seafloor. Its discoverers believe it wasn’t life that created this chemical but geochemical processes. The finding supports the idea that alkaline deep-sea hydrothermal systems could have provided ideal conditions for producing the organic molecules necessary to kick-start life on Earth.