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Fizzy ocean water and the alkaline fluid that bubbles up from deep ocean vents are coursing through a series of glass tubes, thin barrels and valves with a laser and a detector system at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The set-up mimics the conditions at hydrothermal vents at the bottom of Earth's ocean. They want to see if sending these two liquids through a sample of rock that simulates ancient volcanic ocean crust can lead to the formation of simple organic molecules such as ethane and methane, and amino acids, biologically important organic molecules. Scientists have long considered these compounds the precursor ingredients for what later led to chains of RNA, DNA and microbes. [Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory]
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