Previous experiences
This is not the first time the Miller-Urey experiment has been conducted in Nemo. In 2012, Professor Bert Meijer from Eindhoven University of Technology filled a beaker with a mixture of simple gases, water, and energy from an electrical discharge (lightning).
Three follow-up trials were followed between 2017 and 2024. One of the flasks repeated Meijer’s previous experiment, while a second flask added clay, and a third flask used ultraviolet light instead of an electrical discharge. Mud, lightning, and ultraviolet radiation are believed to have played an important role in the origin of life on Earth.
The flasks have been sealed in the museum for seven years, making it the longest simulation of the chemical origins of life on early Earth. Recently, these flasks were transferred to Petrignani’s laboratory. This fall, she and UvA students will open the flasks for the first time to check whether new materials have been created that could tell us more about the origin of life on Earth.
Alien
Currently, only one of these three scenarios is ready. Petrignani will test the meteorite hypothesis in the “primordial soup” just prepared in Nemo. To do this, she filled a beaker with water, clay and gases, but added an amino acid and two nucleobases from a meteorite. Sparks from two electrodes must ensure that the mixture is energized and receives the energy needed to initiate chemical reactions. “You actually have to look at the flask as a kind of reactor vessel where we put a bunch of chemicals together and wait to see what happens. Are we going to find new molecules? Are new gases being created? And above all, what other building blocks do we find are necessary for life?”
In addition to this vial containing the strange substance, two other vials will be on display in the display case later this year. Petrignani is also curious about the role played by very high temperatures and high concentrations of carbon dioxide, such as in the greenhouse planet Venus. Or perhaps the composition of ice and water plays a role, as in the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter – the icy planets. “Telescopes and space probes have found indications that these planets have conditions suitable for chemical reactions with carbon and water, which is again important for the origins of life,” Petrignani said.
The alien scenarios will last for about five years and will be sampled every year. Petrinani’s team will then analyze the results of the experiments, where they hope to find new materials. Petrignani: It would be great if an unexpected molecule suddenly appeared in drinks. But it would be especially cool if we saw big differences between the bottles. Should we look at extraterrestrial materials, or should we focus more on specific terms of carbon chemistry? This would give biochemistry more direction to move closer to uncovering the origins of life.
On Saturday, October 5, during the Science Weekend, the new exhibition “Making Life” will start in NEMO, where Petrinani’s experiment will be displayed.
