It is thought that liquid water is one of the key necessities for life, but a new study delves into the question of whether or not life could have originated without the presence of water. Water is the solvent in which biological reactions occur on Earth today, yet it does create some problems for prebiotic chemistry. One proposed alternative solvent is formamide (FA). Recently a team of researchers examined processes that could have helped large quantities of FA accumulate on the surface of the ancient Earth, providing insight into the potential availability of FA during the origins of life on our planet.

The study, “Estimating the capacity for production of formamide by radioactive minerals on the prebiotic Earth” was published in the journal Nature: Scientific Reports. The work was supported in part by the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) Origins Network (EON).

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