ORGANIC membranes could be forming in space, deep inside dense interstellar clouds, where even light cannot penetrate. Such space membranes may have played a role in the emergence of life on Earth.
Jason Dworkin from NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, simulated space dust by mixing together water, methanol, ammonia and carbon monoxide, which he chilled to 15 degrees above absolute zero. He had already discovered that blasting the dust with ultraviolet radiation would create organic membranes that self-assemble into hollow, spherical structures.
Next week, he will tell the meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia that…
