2007-05-25 | SCIENCE
Legendary origins of life researcher Stanley Miller

In a 1995 paper coauthored with astrobiologist Antonio Lazcano of the National Autonomous University of Mexico ("The origin of life did it occur at high temperatures?", Journal of Molecular Evolution, Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 689-692), Miller explained his view that life on Earth originated in a low-temperature rather than a high-temperature environment. The theory of the origin of life in a high-temperature environment (such as a hydrothermal vent system) is popular, he and Lazcano argued, largely because "the hyperthermophiles are claimed to be the last common ancestor of modern organisms. Even if they are the oldest extant organisms, which is in dispute, their existence can say nothing about the temperatures of the origin of life, the RNA world, and organisms preceding the hyperthermophiles. There is no geological evidence for the physical setting of the origin of life because there are no unmetamorphosed rocks from that period. Prebiotic chemistry points to a low-temperature origin," they concluded.

For more information about Miller's accomplishments in exobiology/astrobiology, see Steven J. Dick and James E. Strick's The Living Universe: NASA and the Development of Astrobiology (Rutgers University Press, 2004). For an interview with Miller about his role in astrobiology/exobiology research, Read More

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