Glassware found to promote reactions in Miller–Urey 'primordial soup' experiment
By running their famous 1952 experiment in glass flasks, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey might have unintentionally simulated the role of rocks on early Earth
The Miller–Urey ‘primordial soup’ experiment has always been run in borosilicate flasks, which is a bit of luck as the glass promotes the formation of amino acids, peptides and nucleobases, scientists have discovered.
In 1952, PhD student Stanley Miller and doctoral adviser Harold Urey ran what would become a classic experiment for scientists trying to find out how simple compounds turned into the molecules of life. The pair designed a setup thought to simulate conditions on Earth 4 billion years ago, combining water, methane, hydrogen and ammonia. They then created an artificial lightning storm in the flask with an electric arc between two electrodes.